WITH the Government unveiling plans for further cuts to solar subsidies, campaigners are warning that the solar panel industry will be left “dead in a ditch”.

But Stephen Feather, director at Brighouse solar firm Ploughcroft, has a more positive outlook on the future.

He spoke to It’s Our World about how he believes his company and others can weather the oncoming storm.

Stephen, 40, said: “The Government have said that they are halving the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) subsidy but the figure that they first introduced was always unrealistic.

“When they first consulted about how much it would be they said it would pay 28p per kilowatt-hour produced – but then Labour decided they would bring it up to 38p.

“Of course, everyone was very excited about that at the time but it was always an unrealistic figure.

“I think if it had come in at 28p in the first place and then they had brought it down to 21p there wouldn’t be anything like the hoo-ha that there has been.”

Stephen said he believes solar panels are still a good investment for householders.

And he claims customers installing photovoltaics can still make an average of £721 a year from the FIT – with a payback period for their initial investment of around 10 years.

He said: “It’s still an excellent investment and the FIT is a more realistic figure now that the price of the actual solar panel kits have come down in price.

“I’m very passionate about this because this technology helps people who are living in fuel poverty.

“I didn’t just get into this line of work to make money like a lot of people who think all they have to do is sell a lot of solar panels then they can retire early.

“I’m from a council estate and I know what it’s like struggling to pay for your bills at the end of the month and it’s all about helping people living in fuel poverty.”

Kirklees Council Green councillor Andrew Cooper said the cuts will be “devastating” for the industry.

He said: “There will be some companies that will ride the storm and there will be a solar industry going ahead – but it will be a much smaller one.

“It’s difficult to say how these cuts are going to encourage people to take up solar technologies.

“The irony is that under the current FIT more money goes into the Government coffers in corporation tax and income tax than is put out in FITS.

“These cuts are actually killing an income stream to the treasury and it is also putting jobs at risk.

“What they have done is basically taken a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”