Solar Power - The Future or the Past?

The Government has recently announced a reduction by almost 50% in its Feed In Tarriff (FIT) rebate for solar panel installations & I wonder about its affect in Fenland & Wisbech in general.

As I drive around Wisbech I notice a lot of solar panel installations, probably because I have one myself.  The governments FIT rebate is designed to encourage people to install solar panels, mainly to address the coming (10 to 20 years) shortfall in electricity generation.  The idea is that individuals rather than the government, pay for the panels & then any electricity they feed back into the National Grid they get paid for.  The facts are that at the current levels it takes about 10 years to pay back the initial investment, after which all the electricity generated becomes profit.

That's the idea.  Halving the subsidy for 2012 will only mean one thing.  Less people will take it up.  This has a knock on effect with the solr installers who are expecting their industry to be decimated.  At the moment only people who have enough spare cash to plan 10 years ahead are installing.  Take the payback time to 20 years & you will see only the seriously rich take the plunge.  Add in the current, very relevant to Wisbech, war on wind turbines & you have to wonder about our ability to generate enough power in future.

I didn't pay for my installation, it came with the house & is a solar water heating system which is very effective & means I pay next to nothing to heat my water.  The main problem is that this will effect all types because the plan was factoring in the equipment becoming cheaper due to increasing production & that is now not going to happen.

What we are left with is a cycle of diminishing returns.  Less people are going to install the system because it is now not economical, so there will be much less demand for equipment, which will push install prices up, which will make the payback longer, which will stop people installing etc. etc.

There is no answer to this & I think it is a shame