Caroline Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2014-05-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent assessment he has made of levels of public support for solar photovoltaic; and if he will make it his policy that there will be no changes to the level of support available for large-scale solar under the Renewable Obligation scheme until at least April 2015.

Gregory Barker

The latest results from the DECC Public Attitudes Tracking survey, published on 29 April 2014, show strong levels of public support for solar photovoltaic, with current support levels at 85%. In previous surveys solar PV has consistently scored 81% or above. However, these figures relate to support for solar PV in general, rather than any specific form of solar energy generation. In addition, the survey does not include any reference to large-scale or ground-based solar.

The Government said in the UK Solar PV Strategy Part 2, published on 4 April 2014, that we are considering the implications of current trends of deployment in solar PV on the financial incentives available in Great Britain under the Renewables Obligation and small-scale Feed-in-Tariff. We will issue a public consultation shortly proposing changes to financial support for solar PV. The proposals on which we will be consulting are intended to take effect from the 2015/16 financial year.