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UK solar growth stalls following government subsidy cuts

30 July 2015

Large solar power farm development largely stopped following April cuts, new figures show, and smaller farms will be hit next

Landmead Solar Farm 46MW solar installation in Abingdon, England supplies enough clean energy to power about 14,000 homes. The Tory government has cut subsidies to large farms such as this.  

Landmead 6MW solar farm in Abingdon, England supplies enough clean energy for about 14,000 homes. Building of new large farms such as this has flatlined following Tory cuts to subsidies. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images


The amount of solar power being installed in the UK has largely flatlined since the closure by the government of a subsidy scheme in April, even before a new round of subsidy cuts has taken effect.

Official figures released on Thursday show that large-scale solar farm developers rushed to connect to the grid in March to get in before the government excluded farms larger than 5MW, enough to power 2,500 homes, from its renewable obligation (RO) scheme.

But installations largely trickled to a halt after April, when the payments were stopped for new farms.