Solar power seems to have started losing popularity in United Kingdom following a recent major subsidy cut. The best proof to this is the April's solar panel installation report from the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change.
According to this report solar panel installations have decreased by approximately 90% in April because British government reduced the amount paid to people installing solar panels from 43p/kWh of energy generated, to just 21p/kWh.
How this will affect the future of UK solar industry still remains to be seen. In any case it is still too early to make long-term future predictions. Global prices of solar PV technologies are expected to continue their decline which could lead to wider implementation of solar panels.
Recently there has been plenty of talk about Britain's ambition to have 22GW of installed solar capacity by 2020. From the current point of view this scenario doesn't look very likely to happen but lot can change in the next 8 years.
The future of solar energy sector will depend on whether solar power will be able to achieve cost-parity with fossil fuels. In order for solar power technologies to become more cost-competitive with fossil fuels they will need to become far more efficient.
Many energy experts agree that subsidies had to be reduced because the costs of solar panels continue their rapid decline. Now it's up to market to decide whether solar power belongs to winners or losers.
