Solar Power and Feed-in Tariffs

Debate between Ben Gummer and Alex Cunningham

Tuesday 29th March 2011 Westminster Hall

[Alex Cunningham]

With respect to the hon. Lady, that is not what this is about. It is about the feed-in tariff. I am all for companies developing their own solar power stations on the roofs of their factories or wherever to run their own businesses. They may well have a little surplus that they can feed into the grid. However, many organisations can develop solar power projects without relying on the feed-in tariff at all.

I could go on, but sadly I do not have the time to list all the projects and examples that I have been sent information on during the last few days. The Renewable Energy Association estimated, before the fast-track review of the FIT was announced, that, nationally, 17,000 new solar jobs would be created by the end of 2011. Those jobs are now unlikely to materialise as medium and large-scale projects are axed. At a time when the number of people unemployed stands at 2.5 million, we should be doing everything that we can to encourage the creation of green jobs. The Government’s review could end up costing jobs, rather than creating them.

Just as important is the renewables target, which aims to see 15% of UK energy coming from renewable technologies by 2020 under the EU renewable energy directive. We are third from bottom of the list of European countries in meeting our renewable energy targets, and the Government’s decision will not help. Many people in the renewables industry are very angry about that decision, and confidence in the Government has been shattered thanks to the mismanagement of the fast-tracked review.

Jeremy Leggett, executive chairman at Solarcentury, has said:

“Since the CSR, I’ve had numerous conversations with Ministers during which I have been assured that any urgent review of feed-in tariffs would be carried out after publication of a proper trigger and would in any case exclude built-environment PV. The Government has not only betrayed those assurances but today proposed feed-in tariff rates that would ensure the UK PV industry stalls. No renewables company or investor can easily be able to trust this Government again after the u-turn by Ministers who were so quick in opposition to call for a more ambitious feed-in tariff and so ready with empty promises in the early months of Government.”

That is quite a condemnation.

I have also been in touch with Eco Age, a company that has been involved in project managing the installation of a number of large 1 MW to 5 MW solar PV systems, which I am told have now all been frozen and are unlikely ever to happen thanks to the FIT review. I am told that just one of the projects—a 1.5 MW solar PV system on the roof of a 550,000 square feet UK super-warehouse—is likely to go ahead. That will be one of the largest roof-based solar installations in the country. Surely it is the type of project that we should be encouraging, but sadly, thanks to the Government’s decision, similar projects have now been scrapped. Eco Age makes the important point that large companies that were engaging with the idea of solar PV schemes have, as a consequence, also embraced other more sustainable practices across their businesses in relation to waste, water transport and procurement. That is a welcome development.

Various representatives from the industry have told me that DECC’s concerns about large-scale solar farms taking up too much of the FIT are unfounded. Large-scale roof-mounted systems are difficult to develop because most commercial property is leased to the tenant, who is not in a position to grant a lease for the roof to a PV company. Ground-mounted schemes, such as those on farms, are far easier because farmers really understand that we need 25 to 40-year lease arrangements to make developments worth while. Although interest in such schemes has been significant, the industry does not expect many actually to go ahead, because it is anticipated that many will struggle to get planning permission.

[Ben Gummer (Ipswich) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman is speaking eloquently about large-scale PV schemes, but is not the problem that the previous Government’s estimates of the feed-in tariff quantum allowed for zero commercial take-up of large-scale schemes, which is precisely why we have the problem we do? The hon. Gentleman has not even addressed that.

[Alex Cunningham]

That may well be the case. The industry has been so excited that it has really cranked up its activity in this area, and more and more people are showing an interest in it. The examples in Germany show that we have a real opportunity to grow this industry, and, believe you me, the revenues that flow into the Government’s coffers as a result could more than compensate for the money that is being spent.

[Ben Gummer]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Alex Cunningham]

I am going to move on, because I need to get through my speech.

Even if we accept that such large-scale sites are a potential concern, why can the Government not restrict the use of greenfield sites and set a reasonable kilowatt capacity limit to curb industrial-scale developments, as suggested by my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies)?At a time when oil prices are rising and volatile, and when the nuclear crisis in Japan is highlighting to all the dangers of nuclear power, I am not alone in suggesting that the Government should look at ensuring that popular, green methods of meeting our energy needs get the support that they deserve. Medium and large-scale solar PV schemes can be part of the solution to serious energy security and climate change problems, but the Government seem intent on focusing just on domestic-scale installations.

The REA tells me that the Department has underestimated solar’s potential and overestimated its cost. Disappointingly, I do not have time to go into the detail, but this technology has exceptional and proven potential. I am told that in Germany—a country with a climate similar to ours—solar PV could reach grid parity, where no subsidies would be required, between 2013 and 2016, which is just two to five years away. Where will the UK be? Yes, left behind again.