LONDON, March 18: Britain proposed on Friday cutting financial support for new solar plants from Aug 1, following an approval process, saying it wants to focus instead on supporting household and community-level projects.

A public consultation will run from Friday until May 6 on the proposal, and it will then go to parliament for final approval.

“This will really curtail the solar industry in Britain,” said Roman Webber, head of Renewable Energy at consultancy Deloitte.

Project developers have started re-evaluating their projects since the government first announced its intention to review the tariffs in February, and the move may now lead them to focus away from solar energy, he added.

The government has proposed to cut support for new solar plants with more than 50 kilowatts capacity and stand-alone installations. “These proposals aim to rebalance the scheme and put a stop to the threat of larger-scale solar soaking up the cash.”—Reuters