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300 new solar panel jobs
27 January 2011
Welcoming news that 300 new jobs are to be created in Wales to make solar panels, Friends of the Earth's energy advisor, Alan Simpson said:
"Developing the UK's huge clean energy potential could create hundreds of thousands of new green jobs - and reduce the UK's reliance on increasingly expensive fossil fuels.
"But this country still has one of the least ambitious targets for developing solar panels in the whole of Europe - and the feed-in tariff is under attack from both the Treasury and big energy firms.
"Chris Huhne must stand firm and push for an expansion of feed-in tariffs so that the UK can reap the huge benefits of a first class solar industry.
"Building a sustainable economy out of the rubble of the old is the only way to ensure a safe and prosperous future for us all."
Notes to editors:
The UK's feed-in tariff scheme is expected to deliver just 2.7GW of PV solar panels by 2020. This compares badly with our European neighbours. By 2020, Germany plans to deliver 39.5GW of solar, Italy 26GW and France 5.5GW. Germany installed 2.5 million PV systems last year - it has been anticipated that the UK FIT scheme will deliver just 750,000 systems across all technologies.
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jan 2011
