Harlow MP fights to save town's solar panel scheme

HARLOW MP Robert Halfon has called on the Government to step in and rescue the town’s recently scrapped solar panel scheme.

Around 1,200 council-owned properties across Harlow were due to have new photovaltic panels installed by Kier Harlow free of charge in a bid to reduce the town’s carbon footprint and cut household energy bills by up to £190 a year.

But the council-backed project had to be shelved in December after the Government announced it was cutting payments from the Feed in Tariff (FiT) scheme being used to finance the initiative.

Speaking at the House of Commons in an Energy Questions session, Mr Halfon asked Energy Secretary Chris Huhne whether there was anything that could be done to introduce a new specialised tariff that would allow the project to go ahead.

Addressing Mr Huhne, Mr Halfon said: "There are hundreds of Harlow residents in social housing who were promised solar power panels, but the new rate is too low for the scheme to be viable."

But in his response, Mr Huhne said there had been a "collapse" in the cost of solar panels which no longer made such schemes viable.

He added that an offer of separate support to community schemes was not possible because of legislation passed by the previous Government.