Last week's poll: where now for UK solar?

This led us to look more broadly at solar and its role in the nation’s energy mix (12,720MW installed capacity across 922,509 sites), plus the advances being made in materials science – particularly with perovskites - that are helping to increase the efficiency of solar power.

Despite the growth of the UK’s solar sector, many contend that it does so in spite, not because of, government support.

Government cuts to solar subsidies (in particular the drastic reduction in feed-in tariffs that made domestic PV so attractive to users, as well as cuts to the renewable obligation scheme, which incentivised the development of larger solar farms) have hindered the rapid growth the sector experienced earlier this decade.

Many in the energy sector believe that it’s time for the government to supercharge growth in solar by introducing more generous subsidies. Others claim that the sector will only become sustainable if it’s forced to stand on its own feet.