Solar installation rates rise as homeowners rush to beat the tariff cuts

Following a lacklustre April and early May, the solar industry is once again showing high rates of solar installation, largely due to homeowners scrambling to install before the cuts to the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) on August 1st and ensure they receive higher payments for the 25 year term and not the reduced rate under a 20 year term.

Provisional figures show that 1,788 solar installations were completed in the week ending 3 June, creating around 6.4MW of new capacity. The figure is less than the 2,186 installations in the last week of May, but far exceeding the meagre 885 installations from the first week of April.

This positive news has been welcomed by the industry and echoed by Paul Barwell, chief executive of the Solar Trade Association, who said he was confident the industry was now "on the road to recovery".

Whilst this may be slightly premature as the effect of the forthcoming reduction to the tariff from 21p/kWh for 25 years to 16p/kWh for 20 years remains to be seen, it is reassuring to see the popularity of solar panels maintain.