Fresh from pulling the plug on onshore wind subsidies, the surprisingly sound Amber Rudd is preparing to do the same to small scale solar farms. DECC are consulting on plans that would slash subsidies for new solar projects below 5MW on the grounds that falling costs are causing more solar farms to be built than they have the budget to pay for. At the current rate DECC could be on the hook for £9.2 billion in renewable subsidies by 2021 – £1.5 billion more than they’ve allocated. Turns out taking free cash is popular among landowners…

Rudd took to airwaves this morning to defend her cost cutting:

“We can’t have a situation where industry has a blank cheque, and that cheque is paid for by people’s bills… we can’t have a system, which we’ve had up to now, where there is basically unlimited [subsidy] headroom for new renewables, including solar.”

Even after this cut, the green crap bill is still in the billions…