Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the downward trend in UK solar development on the solar industry's supply chain in the UK.

Solar deployment has increased rapidly since 2010 and there is now over 12.5GW of solar capacity installed in the UK, enough to power over 2.7 million homes. Technology costs have fallen dramatically making solar cheaper than ever before to install, with subsidy-free solar farm proposals now being announced by industry.

Impact assessments ^{[1, 2]} were published as a result of the closure of the Renewables Obligation to new solar projects and as part of the Periodic Review of the Feed-in-Tariffs. The potential effects on the UK’s solar PV supply chain were assessed as a result of these policy changes.

1. DECC. 2015. Government response on changes to financial support for solar PV projects at 5MW and below under the Renewables Obligation: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486093/2015-12-15_-_5MW_solar_RO_closure_Government_Response_IA_CLEARED_CLEAN_FINAL.pdf.

2. DECC. 2015. Periodic Review of FITs: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486084/IA_-_FITs_consultation_response_with_Annexes_-_FINAL_SIGNED.pdf