You report that "subsidies for large-scale photovoltaic installations are to be cut drastically" (Solar power industry dismayed as subsidy for large plants cut, 10 June). However, the most devastating impact of the government's actions will be on "community-scale" solar – which is poorly understood but crucial to building a modern green electricity infrastructure.

As you state: "The government said its review of feed-in tariffs (FITs) for renewable energy would divert funds from field-sized ... solar power plants to panels on house roofs." The Renewable Energy Association campaigned alongside Friends of the Earth for the FIT legislation to ensure that diverse people and groups can invest easily in renewable power, including solar. Solar projects in schools, farms, businesses and local councils were beginning to flourish.

Overseas, FITs have proven incredibly successful at driving renewables forward and opening up the electricity sector to millions of new investors. Solar is hugely popular, attractive and long-lasting. The UK has around 4,000 square kilometres of roof space. Solar on south-facing roofs and facades alone would meet a third of our electricity needs.

If we invest today, by 2020 a typical domestic solar roof should cost around £3,000, supplying around half the occupants' power needs, carbon-free, for 40 years. But instead of embracing the future, the coalition government is locking the UK industry out of vital manufacturing and global share prospects. You report: "The government's reform will favour domestic and other small-scale installations of solar electric power – up to 50kw ... which would not be enough for some community-scale installations." The industry was shocked that no assessment of economic and jobs benefits was undertaken by the government before, in effect, it killed off community and large-scale solar.

Britain came late to solar and was clearly taken aback by the sheer dynamism of this global industry. More solar capacity was installed across Europe last year than any other renewable energy technology. Germany, China and Japan have scaled back on nuclear and invested heavily in both solar and wind.

The UK solar industry is asking for as little as £3 per household per annum during the lifetime of this parliament to start a solar revolution in Britain.

Minister Greg Barker says: "I want to drive an ambitious roll-out of new green energy technologies in homes, communities and small businesses." I can't support his very limited domestic plans. He has been boxed in by the Treasury (no experts on energy), and let down by his own department's shockingly poor understanding of solar: the latest report by its "expert" consultants anticipates a 37% drop in solar costs between 2010 and 2020. Prices dropped around 25% last year alone.

The government needs a fresh approach to this technology, which has the potential to revolutionise the way we own and generate electricity. Solar energy has to be allowed to compete directly with fossil fuels and new nuclear. It empowers millions of people, not a handful of energy companies. Could that explain the resistance?