Stewart Jackson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what his policy is on future public subsidies to onshore solar energy projects; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker

The UK has seen a remarkable transformation in solar PV deployment under the Coalition Government; we now have over 3GW of installed capacity. The measures that we set out in our Solar Strategy will ensure that solar PV continues to be a vital part of the UK’s renewable energy mix for many years to come.

Alongside those measures, we are consulting on proposals to change the small-scale feed-in tariff scheme to enable more communities to benefit from ownership of renewable electricity generation, as well as proposals to encourage more deployment of solar PV on buildings.

We are also consulting on changes to the renewables obligation in relation to support for large-scale solar projects, and are working closely with industry to ensure that transition to the new contracts for difference mechanism supports the on-going development of the solar sector in the UK.