On: Solar-powered UK schools face an 800% tax increase

[jankotek]

I do not want to go into this discussion, but I doubt school would get any subsidies for a coal plant.

By other industries I meant everything (manufacturing, IT, agriculture...), not just electricity.

[ZeroGravitas → jankotek]

But when evaluating whether to buy solar panels, they'd measure against the price of electricity sold by subsidiized coal plants, so thoses subsizidies would harm solar uptake.

I'm not sure this applies in the UK though, despite swinging rightward there's a reasonable range of regulations that are basically putting coal out of business anyway.

[pjc50 → jankotek]

If you installed a coal CHP plant in a school, you would get a rates exemption for it: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/combined-heat-and-power-incentiv...

(even more crazy were the subsidies for renewable heat in Northern Ireland, which ended up bringing down the Stormont government: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38307628 )