He added that regrettably all appointments had been cancelled for surveys and installations for the domestic solar and wall insulation business.
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Mark Babcock, vice-president of SunEdison’s residential and commercial business unit in Europe, said: “Given the latest changes and proposed changes to the feed-in tariff [subsidy regime], it is hard to see this [Britain] as a viable market going forward”.
At the time the Mark Group – acquired by SunEdison just four months ago – told Solar Power Portal it could not comment on the situation, however a statement issued to Solar Power Portal yesterday evening by SunEdison revealed that current “draconian” government policy was the reason behind its United Kingdom exit.
However yesterday evening the company’s managers put the business into administration and appointed Deloitte as its administrators.
Solar panel and wall insulation contractor Mark Group has gone into administration with the loss of more than 900 jobs.
The firm employed 1,165 people across the United Kingdom, with more than 700 based at its headquarters in Beaumont Leys.
Meanwhile the company said in a statement that the “regrettable” decision had to be taken as a last resort.
Chris Farrington, one of the company’s administrators, said that the company had “sustained heavy losses” as a result of “structural changes in its core markets”.
The Leicester-based company said that this was its only option after the United Kingdom government’s recent policy announcements made its turnaround plan, which was underway and focused on solar, unviable. But earlier in the week, the energy minister, Andrea Leadsom, was reported to have privately said during a debate on the fringes of the conference that the cuts to renewable subsidies had harmed investor confidence.
“Over 1,000 jobs are now at risk in the energy efficiency industry”.
Energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd said then: “Our support has driven down the cost of renewable energy significantly”.
Mark Group stressed there remained an “opportunity to refocus the business on other energy saving technologies” and urged prospective purchasers to contact the administrators.
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SEA chief executive Dave Sowden described the position as “disastrous” for former employees and said the position “could easily have been avoided if the government had paid attention to clear signals about the need to instil confidence in the market”. “The government’s rhetoric on meeting climate change targets, on placing energy efficiency at the heart of energy policy and the effusive support given by Ministers for solar, today feels hollow and empty”.
