Green, Then Amber, Now Red

During the early days of the Coalition government, David Cameron promised that it would be the "greenest government ever". Given that the Tories hadn't got much of a record for their environmental policies and many of their backbenchers were openly sceptical about climate change, this statement was taken with a pinch of salt. However when Chris Huhne and later Ed Davey were put in charge of DECC, there was an opportunity for the Lib Dems to have some positive influence. Within the department there was a mixture of Lib Dem and Tories and on the face of it, things worked reasonably well. The Green Deal was launched, the RHI was (eventually) brought about and there was backing from the department for Solar PV once the 2011 shambles had happened.

When solar enthusiast Greg Barker announced he was standing down as an MP after the 2015 election and as a Minister in the run up to it, many in the solar industry were concerned about who would replace him. Although the path of true love never did run smooth with Barker, we did at least have his backing in Government from 2012 onwards. When it became apparent that we were losing an ally, there was a collective holding of breath.

Amber Rudd was viewed with nervousness at the beginning of her tenure at DECC, with many people viewing her as a Treasury stooge, snooping to see where savings could be made. Over the weeks that she was in her new job though, she showed a willingness to engage with solar companies and seemed to be someone within the Tory party who 'got it' with regard to renewable energy. She visited solar installers, had her picture taken on roofs covered in panels and took an interest in solar parks being developed.

Straight after the election, she continued to make encouraging sounds about solar in particular, saying after her appointment as Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change that she wanted to "unleash a solar revolution".

However, since then Amber warning lights have been flashing furiously. Onshore wind, large scale utility solar and more recently medium scale commercial solar have all been dealt significant blows as Ms Rudd looks to implement savings in the energy sector. On top of this, her own department is facing cuts of up to 90%. 

In the coming couple of months, the Government is to undertake an already scheduled review of the Feed In Tariff across all technologies. Many industry leaders are predicting a slash to PV FiTs akin to 2011. This follows publicly made statements from Greg Barker and Amber Rudd that the Levy Control Framework (LCF), which is the mechanism which FiTs are administered through, is already overspent and is heading towards a ￡1bn hole. Nevermind the 3.5% degression on 1st October this year, some people are predicting a 50% cut around 1st January 2016.

The whole renewables sector is now on Red Alert given more recent comments about the Government's desire to fast-track fracking planning applications and the labelling of this controversial process as "low carbon". It would appear that despite early signs of support from Amber Rudd, she has overstated what the Government are prepared to do for the renewables industry. The party line about "reducing bills for hard-working families" keeps on being trotted out and fracking has bubbled to the surface again like an unwelcome release of methane. Ms Rudd recently said on Radio 4 that DECC "...is not a green NGO" and I agree with her. However, with low carbon energy generation so close to grid parity and overwhelming public support for a greener energy mix, it feels as though we are taking a huge step backwards from a low carbon energy market. Our climate is changing, our buildings use too much energy, we are over-dependent on fossil fuels and yet the person in charge of the department responsible for tackling all of this just doesn't seem to care (or worse, she's being TOLD not to care).

The renewables industry in this country won't grind to a halt overnight. There will still be plenty of believers in 'green energy' especially with the increased understanding there now is around residential solar in particular. However, the next couple of years may be the toughest we've seen since the launch of FiT in 2010. It's time for solar to stand up and be counted  as a technology which can survive despite the government, rather than because of it.