The solar power industry says it has seen the loss of more than half its 35,000 jobs due to recent changes in government energy policy, just at a time when solar power has eclipsed coal as a major generator of Britain’s electricity. Experts believe ministers had cut subsidies too far and too fast, praising the “seismic”, record-breaking growth of solar in recent years. This month the Solar Cloth Company became the latest to be put into administration, following the liquidation and 170 job losses at Solarlec two weeks ago. The biggest single collapse was late last year when the Mark Group went into administration with almost 1,000 redundancies. The Solar Trade Association (STA), which represents the industry, said it was collecting exact statistics to be published soon but believed up to 18,000 jobs had gone in less than 12 months.
Guardian 10th June 2016 read more »