Some 576 people have already been made redundant from solar companies in the UK, with a further 1600 people on notice for next year if cuts go through, according to the Solar Trade Association.
The STA said the survey of 204 solar companies overs nearly 10% of the primary solar sector.
It said the figures are in addition to the 1200 solar job losses reported over the last few months in the media at the three solar companies that have already gone bankrupt.
This brings the confirmed running total of jobs in the solar industry that have been lost to almost 1800, the STA said.
STA chief executive officer Paul Barwell said: “Those 1800 jobs that we know have already gone represent technical skills and experience that has been built up in the solar industry over the last five years.
“It is this very supply chain and know-how that is essential to delivering low-cost solar. And yet the government is at risk of throwing many more of these jobs away.”
The STA and a group of cross-party MPs from all political parties are urging the Government to adopt the STA’s ‘£1 emergency solar rescue plan’, which would safeguard many of the jobs at risk.
The plan would only add an extra £1 per year on average household energy bills from 2019 for new solar deployed over the next three years – enough to power the equivalent of 875,000 homes. This alternative plan would allow solar to continue in the UK while giving the Government the cost control guarantees it needs.
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