By Isabella Kaminski

Representatives of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) have expressed concern about the anticipated review of the UK’s renewable energy feed-in tariff, which was announced one year ahead of schedule.

The association has asked the UK Government to take all necessary caution to avoid destabilising British communities and companies that are starting to invest in renewables. It has stressed the importance of developing a long-term sustainable renewable market by providing a stable and reliable framework.

According to the EPIA, this early tariff review risks an unusually long period of uncertainty that could put many projects at stake and could halt a nascent market before it has properly started.

Eleni Despotou, Secretary General of EPIA, says: “In times of economic crisis, it is essential to encourage the development of a promising sector such as photovoltaics which can create thousands of local jobs. The UK should raise its ambition and widely deploy PV, a decentralised, well-proven renewable electricity generation technology. According to estimates by EPIA, the UK has been identified as having the fifth largest technical potential for PV in Europe. The UK also has significant existing manufacturing as well as new opportunities.”

The EPIA says it is willing to provide any advice to the UK government given its experience of feed-in tariff reviews, in order to secure as much stability as possible to the emerging UK industry.