Trains Are To Go Solar - But Not In Britain

European solar energy experts have branded the UK's decision to cut financial incentives as "short-sighted".

It comes as a groundbreaking project is unveiled in Belgium that has seen 16,000 solar panels placed on top of a 3.4km railway tunnel.

The section of line near Antwerp is now pumping electricity into the Belgian railway and is generating enough energy to power 4,000 train journeys every year.

It has cost £14m and would work in the UK but the firm behind it say the coalition Government's cuts to financial incentives make it "unviable".

Bart van Renerghem from Enfinity , the firm behind the solar tunnel, told Sky News: "Apparently the UK Government is more concerned about the Treasury than the mid and long-term carbon reduction objectives that we have.

"Personally, I think it is short-sighted."

Mr van Renerghem's company was planning to install similar projects in the UK but they have now been shelved.

He added: "It is going to remain a small market where Joe Bloggs in the small white van is going to install it on the rooftops.

"They want to be the greenest Government but they don't want to pay for it."

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has prioritised small-scale solar schemes on homes and businesses rather than large solar projects.

Energy minister Greg Barker MP told Sky News: "We want to create a long-term platform for growth.

"Now that does mean that, in the short term, large-scale schemes aren't going to get the sort of funding that we see in Belgium currently."

Mr Barker said the previous Labour government left behind a "basket-case" policy on solar energy but believes the sector still offers big opportunities.

He added: "There are a lot of exciting things in solar but we have got to think it through so that we get good value for the billpayers as well as a great deal for the solar pioneers."