Solar farm subsidies to be cut under plans to curb the spread of panels across the countryside

A further 48 were due to start operating in March and an additional 194 projects have planning permission and are awaiting construction, which can take as little as eight weeks.

Costs of solar panels have been falling and Whitehall sources say that a cut in subsidies is therefore justified.

But plans for a subsidy review were criticised by the industry.

Paul Barwell, chief executive of the Solar Trade Association, said: "We are disappointed that DECC is launching another review on the solar industry. Investor confidence and market stability is absolutely essential in order to deliver sustained cost reductions for consumers and a healthy solar industry for UK plc."

“We are also concerned that any excessively hasty push for cheap solar will come at the cost of achieving quality in the solar farm industry, which is essential to retain public support."

In a solar strategy earlier this month the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said: “We want to move the emphasis for growth away from large solar farms.”

It admitted that the spread of solar farms had been “much stronger than anticipated in government modelling” and that this “can have impacts on visual amenity”.

It said that public support for solar was starting to be eroded because some solar farms had been sited “insensitively” and that solar farms can “have a negative impact on the rural environment if not well-planned and well-screened”.

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