UK's Solarcentury says GBP 16m of business canceled due to planned cuts

UK solar company Solarcentury has had GBP 16 million (USD 24.5m/EUR 22.2m) of confirmed business cancelled in housing programmes alone as a result of the government's proposed cuts to solar subsidies.

This is equivalent to about 6,500 homes not benefiting from solar panels and a small part of a much larger pipeline of business that would not be realised if the planned cuts go ahead, chief executive Frans van den Heuvel said in a statement. He also noted that due to its international presence the impact on Solarcentury was not so big as on other solar companies.

At an event on Friday to mark the completion of a solar system at the Tate Modern art gallery in London, the company called on the UK government to provide GBP 100 million of support for the sector over the next three years as demanded by the UK Solar Trade Association (STA), being the absolute minimum to sustain the industry that would still lead to job losses.

The company compared solar support to the subsidy for the Hinkley Point nuclear power station and the fossil fuel subsides identified by the (International Monetary Fund) IMF and said that the government's policy signals were already damaging investor confidence. Even before the outcome of the proposal has been announced, the industry has suffered more than 1,000 job losses and global players like Zep Solar and SunEdison are pulling out of the UK, notes the company's CEO.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.533/EUR 1.389)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!