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

Study: Electricity bills rising 'much more slowly' than gas due to UK's clean power drive
Energy

Study: Electricity bills rising 'much more slowly' than gas due to UK's clean power drive

Household energy bills are set to rise this winter, but Nesta claims there are signs gas and electricity bills are beginning to 'decouple' in a boost for households with heat pumps and EVs

Michael Holder
Michael Holder
clock 25 September 2026 • 6 min read
How thousands of small generators are helping Riverford cut 'controllable emissions'
Energy

How thousands of small generators are helping Riverford cut 'controllable emissions'

Riverford has opted to defer a hugely ambitious goal to reach net zero emissions by 2030, but it is now doubling down on efforts to deliver on its revised carbon targets in partnership with Good Energy

Stuart Stone
Stuart Stone
clock 25 September 2026 • 9 min read
COP31: Campaign groups call for guardrails to ensure '35 by 35' electrification goal is 'done right'
Energy

COP31: Campaign groups call for guardrails to ensure '35 by 35' electrification goal is 'done right'

Open letter to COP Presidencies welcomes proposed '35 by 35' target, but argues equitable and renewables-led policies are needed to avoid electrification becoming 'the Trojan horse of our times'

Stuart Stone
Stuart Stone
clock 25 September 2026 • 5 min read