Energy
UK ... Solar Strategy

The UK Government Strategy for Rooftop Solar

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess
Founder/CEO at TrueValueMetrics developing Multi Dimension Impact Accounting

One of the issues that leadership should be looking at is the potential competitive disadvantage that comes from being a 'first mover' in a technology where the costs are coming down very rapidly.

Installing solar PV systems is not like investing in IT equipment. Moore's Law pushed the price of computing down, but it operated in an environment where the equipment life was also something like 2 years rather than the case of solar PV where the life of the equipment is upwards of 20 years.

One thought is that Government might consider a subsidy for first movers that is designed to offset their higher investment cost resulting from investing when the cost is high relative to the cost that would have been if they had waited until the costs dropped. Such a subsidy would give incentive to invest now AND incentive to really push for lower cost in the future.

Most subsidy programs do not have any way to give incentive to both timeliness of investment and encouragement for lower costs. This subsidy arrangement does both.

Peter Burgess - TrueValueMetrics
Multi Dimension Impact Accounting

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/249277/UK_Solar_PV_Strategy_Part_1_Roadmap_to_a_Brighter_Future_08.10.pdf '../DBpdfs/Energy/Solar/UK/UK_Solar_PV_Strategy_Part_1_Roadmap_to_a_Brighter_Future_08.10.pdf' https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/300885/UK_Solar_PV_Strategy__Part_2_4_April_2014.pdf '../DBpdfs/Energy/Solar/UK/UK_Solar_PV_Strategy__Part_2_4_April_2014.pdf'