Embarrassingly successful: an obituary for the UK's Feed-in Tariffs

clock • 9 min read

Philip Wolfe, one of the leaders of the feed-in tariffs campaign and the author of the first blueprint on their design, looks back at the history of the scheme and assesses the extent to which it has been a success

The introduction in 2010 of feed-in tariffs for green electricity revolutionised the renewable energy sector in the UK. There is now more than 200 times as much solar capacity as there was then - up from...

To continue reading this article...

Join BusinessGreen

In just a few clicks you can start your free BusinessGreen Lite membership for 12 months, providing you access to:

  • Three complimentary articles per month covering the latest real-time news, analysis, and opinion from Europe’s leading source of information on the Green economy and business
  • Receive important and breaking news stories via our daily news alert
  • Our weekly newsletter with the best of the week’s green business news and analysis

Join now

 

Already a BusinessGreen member?

Login

More on Energy

Report: Green hydrogen projects struggling to move beyond drawing board in UK and Europe

Report: Green hydrogen projects struggling to move beyond drawing board in UK and Europe

Stalling demand could put 2030 targets for green hydrogen production capacity ‘beyond reach’ in the UK and Europe, according to the Energy Industries Council

Michael Holder
clock 14 August 2026 • 4 min read
CIP fires up 'Europe's largest' battery storage facility in Scotland

CIP fires up 'Europe's largest' battery storage facility in Scotland

The 500MW Coalburn 1 battery storage facility is one of three being developed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners in Scotland

clock 13 August 2026 • 1 min read
Report: Ditching gas for clean energy could save UK manufacturers £2.1bn by 2035

Report: Ditching gas for clean energy could save UK manufacturers £2.1bn by 2035

Widespread adoption of 'proven' measures such as onsite renewables, smart energy management and waste heat recovery could unlock billions in savings over next decade

Michael Holder
clock 11 August 2026 • 4 min read