It would appear that the British government waging a war on the solar industry.

The solar industry is facing a new hurdle in the United Kingdom with certain businesses and schools who have opted for the greener alternative facing an astounding tax hike of 800% w.e.f from April.

This is an upper cut to the solar industry which saw 12,000 employees being laid off last year. As a result of the layoffs, the installation of solar panels reduced by 85% according to The Independent.

As per the Guardian, this absurd hike is due to the end of subsidies for solar farms and end of incentives for homeowners.

While that makes sense try to reconcile this: public schools in the England and Wales which have installed photovoltaic will be subject to the tax hike while private institutions who have also invested in the green tech will be exempt.

According to the Guardian’s report, if the “typical” solar installation of a school is 10kW, which amounts to $973.29 (£800) per year, since there are 821 schools outfitted with such a solar installation will now have to additionally have a cash outlay of a whopping $973,916 (£800,000).

“After assuming similar installation rates across the 174 authorities in England and Wales, that climbs to a total of about £1.8 million ($2,189,907). This is slightly less than helpful for the British solar industry,” said Leonie Greene of

the Solar Trade Association.

“It’s absurd. Energy tax policy is going in the opposite direction to how we know energy needs to change and how it’s changing. What he is doing is advantaging old technology and disadvantaging new ones. It’s nonsensical.”

Kids from Eleanor Palmer in Camden have collected more than 200,000 signatures and have urged the British Treasury department to “urgently rethink” the tax hike.

Expectedly, the British government has defended the move saying the additional tax burden could lead to improvements in the schools, without expanding on its statement.