Be interesting to see what the economics of if all look like when the subsidies stop for new installations, especially if the price goes up because the demand for them has fallen off a cliff...
Sadly even the current level of FIT doesn't make financial sense. I think it's stupid and shortsighted of the government who seem committed to nuclear even if viable alternatives are available. The Swansea barrage is another example of that.
I'm not rabidly anti-nuclear power but I've never heard of a solar panel meltdown.
The problem is trying to scale renewables to meet the demand of the UK population, and it is a big demand. If you look at the typical current generation capability per square kilometer of renewables, and work out how much land would need to be used to build enough to satisfy UK electricity demand, you end up with a figure that is something of the order of a quarter to half of the UK's total land area.
There is your problem. If you want renewables to contribute significantly to electricity generation you need a lot of land, and sea if you build offshore wind farms. Renewables are a very dilute source of energy. Conventional power stations have electricity generation densities hundreds of times higher, which is why you can build on in a squre kilometer, rather than needing hundreds of square kilometers for a comparable solar or wind farm.
The second problem, which is related to the first, is that people in the UK love saying no to things. No wind turbines, they are an eyesore. No nuclear power, the waste is an issue and it's expensive. No hydro, it is destructive to the inhabitants of the valley that gets flooded. No tidal, bad for wildlife. No solar farms within my visual radar. People in the UK need to wake up and smell the reality, if people insist on using so much energy and are not willing to make lifestyle changes (another ugly no-no concept) to reduce energy demand, then we have to look at how we provide our population with power, and look at all the options and their consequences.
As far as solar PV is concerned, given the cloudiness of the UK climate, it would be arguably better to build the PV in sunny countries and import it.