On Eve Of Paris Summit, UK Eliminates 87% Of Solar Subsidies, Fires Up Bankside Power Station

[hatrack]

LONDON — After standing dormant for 34 years, the Bankside Power Station was reborn last month. The onetime oil-fired, soot-spewing electric power plant, shut down and then converted into the Tate Modern, the world’s most popular contemporary art museum, is back producing energy again. Its roof has been coated with solar panels, which soak up the sun’s rays even on a cloudy London afternoon and help illuminate the avant-garde works in the galleries below.

But rather than a shiny vision of modernity, the solar installation may become a sad remnant of a lost future. With breathtaking abruptness, the British government has in recent months slashed its support for solar power and other renewable forms of energy, leaving a once-promising industry with grim prospects and throwing into doubt the country’s commitment to clean power.

EDIT

But the decision to cut hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of support for renewable energy at home, with a planned 87 percent reduction in subsidies for solar power, threatens to undermine Britain’s international authority, while showing just how difficult it can be for a developed nation to break a centuries-long addiction to fossil fuels.

“Britain’s been leading the way for years,” said Frans van den Heuvel, chief executive of Solar­century, the company responsible for the pro bono installation of the Tate’s rooftop panels. “But now the government looks like it wants to kill the industry before it can stand on its own two feet.”

EDIT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/on-eve-of-paris-climate-summit-britain-pulls-the-plug-on-renewables/2015/11/20/240c5630-8311-11e5-8bd2-680fff868306_story.html?postshare=7141448102994057&tid=ss_tw

[Wilms]

1. "Bankside" Power Station

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Why the quotes, and sad face? (nt)