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Give us guiding light say Leeds solar firm bosses
FACTORY TOUR: Richard Whiteley and Gavin Fearnley, of Gough and Kelly, Luciana Berger, MP for Liverpool Wavertree and Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change, and Rachel Reeves, Leeds West MP, at the Bramley site.
Bosses at a Leeds solar energy company are calling for an end to the “uncertainty” caused by the recent slashing of a Government ‘clean-energy cashback’ scheme for people generating their own power.
Bramley-based Gough and Kelly has been selling solar panels for two years and bosses say it is “a rapidly expanding part of the business”.
They admit the industry is facing mounting “insecurity” because of proposed changes to the existing Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) – worth up to £1,000 a year to householders – which will see amounts paid back to users slashed by half, with plans to cut them even further after April.
Commentators say the number of new solar panel installations have “crashed” since the cuts were announced last year, and opposition politicians claim the changes “threaten to kill off the industry”.
Gavin Fearnley, general manager at Gough and Kelly’s Renewable Energy Division, said: “Gough and Kelly have been providing solar energy installations for approximately two years and it is a rapidly expanding part of the business.
“The renewable energy division in particular has been very successful installing thousands of solar panels to both domestic and commercial properties throughout West Yorkshire and beyond. However, the Government’s alterations to the Feed in Tariff system and the insecurity it has brought to the market has removed customer confidence and lead to a definite decline in the number of installations being carried out. There is a definite desire by customers to invest in renewable energy but security of investment is a crucial element in their decision-making process.”
The FIT scheme allows for solar panel users to be paid for every kilowatt hour of the electricity they generate, even if they use it themselves, and for any surplus electricity they export to the national grid. Mr Fearnley was speaking following a visit to the firm’s Bramley base by shadow Climate Change minister Luciana Berger, who said: “Companies like Gough and Kelly show how much of a success the solar industry has been for the UK.
“Unfortunately this Government’s decision to impose such sudden deep cuts to solar Feed-in Tariffs threatens to kill off the industry.”
Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves, who also toured the factory, added: “Gough and Kelly provide important employment for local people.”
Caroline Lucas, the UK’s first Green Party MP, has written that since the UK FIT scheme was introduced in April 2010, it had seen 100,000 solar installations, the creation of more than 22,000 jobs and almost 4,000 new businesses.
The Government recently lost an appeal against a high court judgement which found the cuts were “legally flawed”, but is appealing again to the Supreme Court.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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