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Power market regulator favors a flat rate fee for electricity consumers to fund the cost of making the U.K. grid fit for the energy transition. Solar lobbyists say that will unfairly penalize households and businesses who have invested in on-site generation.

Rachel Reeves, Chair of the Committee for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), has released a comment indicating the discontent with which she views government plans to scrap export tariffs on 31 March 2019. The scheme remunerates small-scale generators, and its abolishment has been likened to theft and sparked a feud between the industry and politics. Last week, U.K. Energy Minister Claire Perry also said that forcing generators to export for free would be “wrong”.

At an event in London, a new tool was presented which lets the user track the UK storage landscape. The market is gaining traction amidst disfavourable policies for solar PV and other renewables from Westminster. The UK’s storage portfolio seems to be growing rapidly.

A snapshot of how politicians, scientists, institutions, industry, and civil servants have reacted to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released yesterday.

Twelve signatories from the energy and consumer goods industry have sent an open letter to the EU and U.K., calling for continued cooperation after Brexit to protect both consumer, and business, interests. The document highlights the importance of tariff-free electricity trading as intermittent renewable energy will require a higher degree of market integration.

RECC survey respondents say they will face major job cuts if solar tariffs are phased out in April, as proposed by the UK government. Reportedly more than 75% of jobs in the UK’s solar sector could be lost. A previous cut in tariffs prompted the loss of 9,000 jobs. Last week the industry sent an open letter to the energy minister opposing the policy.

In consultations in late July this year, the U.K. Government proposed ending both the feed-in tariff (FIT) and export tariff schemes. The policy changes would end financial compensation for prosumers feeding electricity into the grid. In a letter, the industry, including major utilities like Eon and Ovo Energy, voiced their clear rejection of the plan.

Despite a remarkable cumulative PV capacity of over 12.8 GW, newly registered PV systems in the first four months of this year amounted to a disappointing 72 MW. The U.K. Solar Trade Association does not expect the current poor growth trend to improve unless the government provides more regulatory certainty.

Distributed solar can arrive in many forms, from the typical small array installed on a family home, to vast, multi-megawatt installations atop large warehouses and factories. Each market sector faces its own challenges and opportunities, and pv magazine has identified five key questions that could well shape these various rooftop sectors throughout 2018 and beyond.

Lessons learned from solar failures could propel battery storage market to 12 GW by 2021, argues report by All-Party Parliamentary Group on Energy Storage, which implores government to be “on the front foot” when it comes to seizing ways to ensure energy security for the nation.