Diana Johnson
Main Page: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)
1. What assessment he has made of the effect of changes to the feed-in tariff on the number of solar PV installations in the last 12 months.
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Mr Edward Davey)
In the last 12 months, there have been approximately 270,000 photovoltaic installations registered on the microgeneration certification scheme database, against a forecast of just 35,000 installations when the scheme was launched in 2010. Moreover, having substantially reduced the cost of each installation to electricity bill payers, the coalition is now in a position to significantly expand the ambition of the feed-in tariffs scheme.
Diana Johnson
Following the chaotic cut to the feed-in tariff, there has been a 90% fall in solar panel installations, and 6,000 jobs have gone in the industry, including more than 100 in my constituency of Kingston upon Hull North. Does not the Government’s mismanagement and this debacle mean that the industry could be strangled at birth? It also puts at risk investment in the renewables industry, which is so important to areas such as Hull.
Mr Davey
I am surprised the hon. Lady reaches that conclusion. Since the 21p tariff came in 10 weeks ago, there have been more than 26,000 installations with 86 MW of capacity, which is equivalent to the installation rate achieved in August 2011, when the tariff was at 43p. The installation rate in the period is 1.7 times what it was in the same period last year.