UK had 7.75 GW of solar capacity on June 30 - DECC

The UK had a total of 7,750 MW of installed solar capacity at the end of June, figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) showed today.

According to the latest monthly statistics, the country has added 122 MW over the previous month and just 201 MW since the end of March, when overall capacity was calculated at 7,549 MW. At the end of June, there were 12,601 installations, totaling 3,487 MW, accredited under the Renewables Obligation (RO) and 712,594 feed-in-tariff (FiT) systems, representing 3,150 MW.

The UK government last week unveiled proposals to cut solar subsidies in a move to control costs. The measures include a consultation on closing the RO for new solar projects on April 1, 2016 and removing grandfathering for projects not RO accredited as of July 21, 2015. Systems bigger than 5 MW were already excluded from the RO from April 1, 2015.

The government also announced a consultation on removing preliminary accreditation from the FiT, meaning that complex projects that take longer to build could face lower-than-expected tariff levels when they reach completion. This year, the DECC is also undertaking a full review of the FiT scheme.

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