Changes to feed-in tariffs results in fears for prospect of energy services divisionConstruction corporation Carillion has warned 4,500 staff their jobs are at risk since of administration plans for a dramatic divide in solar energy subsidies.The corporation has begun a statutory 90-day consultation period in its energy services division prior to the anticipated slashing of feed-in tariffs.The tariffs, known as FITs and paid by energy companies to households and communities who produce electricity via solar panels on their roofs, would be more than halved under administration proposals.Ministers are also proposing cutting the subsidies by 12 December instead of April 2012, the date the solar industry is calling for.It is feared the changes could pose problems for Carillion, whose business includes a project to install and manage 30,000 solar panels for community authority and social housing. It is understood that the number of redundancies at the firm, which employs 50,000 staff worldwide, will be well below 4,500, however Carillion said it was also early to speculate on what the final figure would be.The corporation said in a statement: “As a result of the administration’s changes to feed-in tariffs for solar photovoltaic installations, Carillion Energy Services proposes to accelerate and widen [its restructuring] programme.”Our solar business was growing strongly, however we expect the administration’s plans for much larger and earlier than expected cuts to feed-in tariffs to reduce the amount of the solar PV market significantly. In order to react to the effects of this on our business, we have launched a statutory 90-day consultation action with our human beings on how we can reshape our business.”Until the consultation action is complete it is also early to speculate on how many human beings will be affected, exceptionally as we will explore all opportunities for redeployment.”The plans to slash financial incentives for installing solar panels has provoked rage from green groups, with Friends of the Earth plotting to mount a legal challenge.The Department of Energy and Climate Alter acknowledged the proposed changes would be “very dense” however insisted it wanted an enduring prospect for the solar industry.”If we left things as they are, the FIT budget would be eaten up entirely, and that would be much worse for those in this sector and those working on other technologies also,” a spokesman said.”We believe solar PV can have a strong and vibrant prospect in the UK and we are proposing changes to ensure a lasting FITs scheme to support that prospect.”Solar powerEnergyRenewable energyGreen jobsGreen economyManufacturing sectorJob lossesEnergy industryBeatrice Woolfguardian.co.uk © 2011 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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