“Based on the Government’s stated desire to “unleash the United Kingdom rooftop market” and the programmes and support in place for solar, SunEdison believed that the United Kingdom offered long-term opportunities for solar energy”.
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The Government has been accused of “killing” jobs after two clean energy firms went into administration, hitting around 1,000 workers.
“We acquired Mark Group in July 2015”. The collapse of Mark Group prompted the UK Sustainable Energy Association (SEA) to call on the government to rethink its entire approach to energy policy.
Administrator Deloitte said 939 staff had already been made redundant while a further 226 skeleton staff had been retained in the hope a buyer could be found for the company.
Managers at the company had been attempting to buy the firm from its parent SunEdison, in a last-ditch attempt to save the business, but were unable to put a deal together.
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.
Last month, a report by financial consultancy EY said the government’s policies on renewable energy threatened to undermine investor confidence in fracking and nuclear projects, as well as in the green sector.
“Mark Group’s management team recognise the talent and expertise within the business, which has been developed over four decades, and believe there is an opportunity to refocus the business on other energy saving technologies. Prospective purchasers are encouraged to get in contact as soon as possible”.
“With regret, the Administrators are having to make a significant number of redundancies, but are working with remaining employees to secure an urgent sale of the ongoing business”.
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“Regrettably, all appointments have been cancelled for surveys and installations”, the solar company said in a statement.
