It is expected that the government will release details of the fast-track review of the feed-in tariffs (FiT) this week, including its proposed changes to incentives for solar power installations. I will of course post the consultation information and documents onto the network as soon as they are available.

The review is widely expected to propose reductions in the FITs available to solar installations larger than 50kW. The review was initiated by government fears that larger solar farms will consume a majority of the available funds and leave little for domestic installations. According to Businessgreen, there are fears that FITs for installations with larger generating capacities (100kW-5MW) may be cut by 30 per cent. The industry will be waiting with anticipation this week to see if reductions are applied to all installations greater than 50kW or are limited to ground-mounted solar farms. 

Solar experts say the analysis is faulty - that there are barely any plans for commercial-scale "farms", that the 50kW ceiling also catches out community projects such as hospitals and housing associations, and that the lack of support from government will put the brakes on much-needed investment.

More serious still is the charge that the Department of Energy and Climate Change does not understand the economics of solar power and does not have the expertise for a valid analysis of the market.

"We are getting ready for a major fight," said one industry insider. "The Government is fundamentally wrong about the technology and they haven't understood it."

The lower bands of the FIT subsidy system - applying to solar generating capacity of up to 4kW, 4kW of domestic PV and 4 to 10 kW - will be assessed in a second, so-called "comprehensive review" further in the future. But the re-evaluation of the subsidies for 50kW and above is to be pushed through in time for changes to be applied this summer. Currently, the FIT pays out 31p per kW/hr in the 10 to 100kW band, and 29p per kW/hr in the 100kW to 5 megawatt band.

Last week a solar industry campaign warned that 30,000 green jobs are under threat from the cuts to the FIT. Jeremy Leggett, executive chairman of Solarcentury, said: "It beggars belief that a government elected on a promise of being the 'greenest ever' should be rushing to cut the solar PV tariff and kill off one of its very few employment success stories."