DORSET’s renewable energy sector could face being knocked back following the axing of government subsidies for solar and wind energy from March next year.

It comes after the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy made clear that there will be no replacement and no new alternative for the feed-in-tariff boost which pays homeowners for the energy which they create.

That’s the message from Regen South West, which promotes green energy across Dorset and which has accused ministers of striking a major blow against household solar power after it was announced that the green energy subsidy scheme will end next year without a replacement.

Johnny Goudy, commercial project lead at Regen South West said that the poorest in society will be hit the hardest by the end to feed-in-tariffs.

He added: “By reducing the level of support, reducing the financial attractiveness of the scheme, the danger is that it will go back to only the wealthy being able to pay for it.

“Only the wealthy will get to enjoy the energy transformation and bill reduction. This will hit the poorest people the hardest.”

Emma Pinchbeck, executive director at RenewableUK, added: “The confirmation that there would be no replacement for the feed-in tariff is a major blow to small-scale renewables in the UK.”

Both organisations also feared that the end to subsidies for homeowners wanting solar panels on their roofs will put an end to the take-up from middle and lower-income families.

However, the government has said that the solar and wind energy sectors were established enough not to need the feed-in-tariff boost, a scheme which pays people for the energy which they create.

So far, feed-in-tariffs have encouraged more than 800,000 homes to install solar panels over the past eight years while 1.6 million kW per hour was produced in the UK from solar farms. and panels alone of which 13 per cent was in the South West.

However, councils across Dorset, which are expecting energy demand of around 15,903 GWh by 2020 said that they were hoping that they can generate 15 per cent of this total energy demand from renewable sources.

This, they added, would require an estimated 2,386GWh to be generated in the area from renewable electricity or heat installations by 2020.

A spokesman for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: “As costs continue to fall and deployment without direct subsidy becomes increasingly possible for parts of the sector, it is right that government acts to ensure continued value for money for billpayers over the longer term.”