Greg Barker, the minister for climate change, will deliver the keynote speech at the upcoming Making CfDs Work for Solar event in London.

Delivered against the backdrop of controversial proposals to remove renewable obligation (RO) support for solar farms over 5MW come April 2015, the minister will outline the government’s vision for the sector moving forward under the contracts for difference (CfD) regime.

The one-day conference on 25 June at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel in London has been designed to allow solar developers, financiers, lawyers, funders and other stakeholders to come together to discuss, learn and better understand the government’s CfDs scheme and how this is to be applied to solar projects after April 2015.

Commenting on the importance of the conference, David Owen, CEO of Solar Media and chair of the event, said: “Large-scale solar farms have experienced explosive growth exceeding 1GW in the first quarter of 2014. The solar industry is now trying to understand the CfD process to see if this growth is sustainable.

“Developers and funders are left scrambling to understand CfDs in time to get bids together before the October deadline. We have developed this one day workshop in conjunction with the major developers, funders, DECC and the energy markets, to ensure that solar projects will be ready to take advantage of the first round of auctions later this year.”

Other confirmed speakers include:

  • Lars Weber, Neas Energy Ltd
  • Abid Kazim, Next Energy Capital
  • Rob Epstein, head of allocation, DECC
  • Chris Helmsley, head of CfD design and implementation, DECC
  • Gareth Goodall, director, New Stream Renewables
  • Olivier Fricot, European head of power and renewables, Investec
  • Paul McCartie, finance director, LightSource Renewable Energy
  • James Armstrong, partner, Bluefield LLP

The proposed move to CfDs has been described as “needlessly damaging” and has reportedly put the future of 215 UK solar farms in doubt. However, some areas of the solar industry are optimistic about the introduction of the new support mechanism.   

Tickets and the full programme for Making CfDs Work for Solar are available here.