Mr Barker’s resignation has surprised many within the UK renewable energy sector as he was generally well regarded. However, Mr Barker did preside over a series of damaging cuts to Feed-in Tariffs for solar PV which has now generated a High Court ruling imposing a £132 million claim for damages against the government.
The cuts were announced on 31st October 2011 and effectively halved the tariff to a level of 21p per kilowatt hour for those systems installed after 12th December 2011. The speed with which these cuts were imposed caused difficulty for many UK solar companies at the time, especially those offering ‘free’ panel schemes in which the costs of installation were recovered from the tariff rather than directly from the customer.
Mr Barker was also responsible for the introduction of the Green Deal energy efficiency scheme which has so far largely failed to achieve its objective of motivating UK householders to convert to green energy systems in order to reduce emissions and reduce energy bills.
“You have served continuously on the Conservative front bench for over a decade and I hope you can be enormously proud of all you have achieved over the years covering the related briefs of environment and, more recently, climate change” said Prime Minister David Cameron. ““In particular, you have led successful investment into our energy infrastructure, making the UK a world-leader in renewable technology. You have established the Green Investment Bank, and mobilised over £3 billion investment into our renewables sector last year alone.”
Mr Barker will step down in May 2015. It is not yet known who will replace him.
The chief executive of the UK Green Building Council, Paul King, said that Barker had provided “unstinting support” for climate and energy policy in the UK during a very difficult political and economic climate and described him as a “a tireless champion of energy efficiency.”
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