The majority of the British public would like to install solar panels and home energy storage schemes if greater government assistance was available, a new survey has revealed. In total 62 per cent said they would like to fit solar panels and 60 per cent would install an energy storage device. An even greater proportion – 71 per cent – would be interested in joining a community energy scheme if government support was there. Client Earth’s chief executive James Thornton said: “These results make it clear that the British public want action on climate change, and urgently. The government can take the lead on climate quickly by cutting off the hundreds of millions of pounds in annual subsidies to fossil fuel power stations and other schemes that are giving carbon-intensive power generation an unfair advantage over renewables.” Jeremy Leggett, the founding director of the UK’s largest solar company, Solar Century, and author of The Winning of The Carbon War told The Independent: “Maybe fears about climate change are growing – justifiably – with the heatwave, but solar has been the single most popular energy technology in government surveys of consumer attitudes for a good few years now.” He added: “The key issue here is that government is missing a huge opportunity, as things stand, to build a strong domestic solar industry ready for the day – coming soon – when solar is cheaper than any other form of energy, even in cloudy Britain. They are backing the wrong horses: nuclear and shale gas, and seem willing actively to suppress solar to make space. They should at least take out a hedged bet on solar, and keep an export tariff for solar generation. As things stand, from next March they intend to allow energy companies to take excess solar electricity generated by solar ‘prosumers’ for free. That is really a retrograde action, especially when you contrast it with the incentives for solar generation elsewhere in the world.”
Independent 20th Aug 2018 read more »
Solar Power Portal 20th Aug 2018 read more »
