Tesco solar panel plans on hold
Tesco has put its solar panel plans on hold after the coalition last week failed to reassure the renewables industry, which, according to report, has been shocked by reviews of subsidies.
The supermarket was considering placing 1MW arrays of PV cells onto around half a dozen of its distribution centres across the UK, according to a behind-the-scenes source that is close to the process.
Several sources in the industry say that the project has now been put on hold after the coalition made the surprise decision to urgently to review all feed-in tariff subsidies for any renewable projects that are larger than 50kW, making Tesco’s plan uneconomical.
A spokesperson from the retail giant said that the project isn’t on hold, with no firm decision taken yet on whether to go ahead with installation of the solar panels or not. There isn’t much truth in the story and we are still fully committed to being a zero carbon business by the year 2050 through continuing to invest in environmental technologies, it was added.
The department of energy and climate change launched a review after fears over the fact that fields of widely-debated PV cells are using up subsidy money that is intended for household panels. A source near to the ongoing process has said that solar panels need to be completed in March of 2012, with the supermarket due to start going public with its plans in around two months.