UK energy policy slammed as solar company collapses
Financial Times reported that one of the world’s biggest renewable energy investors has warned that ‘draconian’ UK subsidy cuts will kill solar power in Britain, blaming policy changes for a pullback that led to the collapse of a big installer and nearly 1,000 job losses.
SunEdison, the US-listed group, has rounded on ministers after Mark Group, a Leicester-based home insulation business it acquired only months ago, was put into administration on Wednesday after being sold back to management.
It said in a statement explaining its decisionthat “Based on the government’s stated desire to ‘unleash the UK rooftop market' and the programmes and support in place for solar, SunEdison believed that the UK offered long-term opportunities for solar energy.”
It said that “SunEdison took on the challenge of turning around by leveraging the company’s installation experience in the solar photovoltaic market. We are extremely disappointed that the draconian policy proposals made by the government in August will essentially eliminate the solar PV market in the UK and have made our plan unviable.”
Mark Group was acquired in July by SunEdison. However, its management team bought the company back on Wednesday morning, before appointing Deloitte administrators. Mark Group said ongoing losses had made administration the ‘only option.’
The collapse is the latest evidence of how green policy reversals since the Conservative general election victory in May have thrown investor plans into turmoil.
Just two weeks ago, the Drax power company said that it was pulling out of a £1bn UK climate-change plan because it was now too risky to proceed. It has abandoned five years of planning for a carbon and capture storage system next to its huge North Yorkshire power station. It also blamed critical reversals in government support for renewable energy.
The UK solar panel market has been hit hard by changes in the subsidy regime announced by Amber Rudd, the energy secretary. The government has proposed ending assistance as soon as January for small-scale renewable projects and cutting guaranteed prices paid for electricity generated by new rooftop solar installations by up to 87%.
In comments to Solar Power Portal last week,Mr Mark Babcock, a senior Sun Edison executive said that the uneconomic conditions created by the government’s policy changes would result in sector-wide lay-offs and a possibly tragic outcome.
The job losses on Wednesday night came as another installation company, Climate Energy, also called in administrators, saying it was unable at this time to pay unsecured creditors. Talks with a possible buyer were ongoing.
Mr Doug Parr, Greenpeace’s chief UK scientist, accused George Osborne of taking “a wrecking ball” to the clean energy sector.
He said that “Evidence is growing that the chancellor’s policies are putting people out of jobs, damaging investment, and harming one of the country’s most promising industries. This should be a wake-up call for David Cameron, who faces international embarrassment ahead of crucial climate talks.”
Source : Financial Times