As governments across Europe slash subsidies for small-medium scale renewable energy generators, the industry needs to rethink its approach to communications strategy if solar PV is to continue to shine, says Kate Garratt, head of energy at Aspectus PR.
When the UK Government introduced its Feed-In-Tariffs (FiTs) in April 2010, solar photovoltaic (PV) quickly became an attractive investment. Having seen the success of similar schemes in Germany, UK PV companies were quick to switch from targeting a small group of enthusiastic environmentalists with their PR and marketing campaigns, to a much wider audience of ethically-minded investors.
Indeed, with the generous FiTs on offer, investing in solar PV was seen as a ‘no-brainer’ – a message propagated throughout the mainstream media. For example, the Guardian’s Miles Brignall wrote: “If the government offered to pay you £1,000 a year for the next 25 years, in return for an up-front investment of £12,500, you’d snap it up in a second. Well, that’s pretty much the deal on offer this week… through the new Feed-in Tariffs.”
However, it is now just over two years since the launch of the scheme and the UK Government has had to slash its FiTs several times in response to the unprecedented level of take up. In February this year, it was reported that adoption was five times the level originally anticipated , with Gregory Barker, the UK minister for energy and climate change proclaiming that “never again should we have a fixed price tariff that allows a bubble to grow and offer unduly large rewards.”
The latest cut, effective August 1st 2012, takes the new rate for solar PV installations of <4 kilowatt hours (kWh) capacity down to16p/kWh from 21p/kWh. Moreover, the tariff lifetime for solar PV will be reduced from 25 to 20 years for all new installations.
