As the sun comes out at last, those of us lucky enough to have solar panels on their roofs or in their gardens will again see the enormous benefits of home-grown renewable power. And order books for businesses in the UK's solar sector, which is largely comprised of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), should be filling up.

However, I've heard recently from some solar companies based in Brighton & Hove and elsewhere in the South East that things aren't as good as they should be, and that Government must now take action to secure the industry's future and the jobs it provides in our city and elsewhere.

In late 2011, the Government radically cut feed-in-tariffs for the installation of solar photovoltaic projects. The reasons were rapidly decreasing costs of panels, thanks to the rise of Chinese PV sector, and decreasing installation costs.

Reducing subsidies for a technology when the cost falls makes sense. But the Government's approach was too brutal, and the sudden readjustment lead to a very tough year for our SMEs in, with some companies having to lay off over half their employees. 

Lessons must be learned from this; and subsidies must not be cut faster than costs are falling, if we want to see the economies of scale that could make solar much more widely available.

Solar power is still a good investment for those who can afford the upfront capital today, but there are urgent steps that Ministers must take to help the industry thrive, bring down costs, and ensure that more households can install from solar panels.

One serious threat comes from an EU investigation into concerns that China has been illegally dumping solar products on our markets. This could result in import duties on Chinese solar products, which could force up prices.

The outcome of this investigation is not yet clear but the uncertainty is already making ripples in our green industry with orders already being cancelled.

From what I've heard first hand from small solar firms in my constituency, the last thing that the UK solar PV sector needs right now is the crippling uncertainty being caused by the EU anti-dumping anti-subsidy investigations.

The Government must help by guaranteeing the UK will vote against these duties and by encouraging other Member States to do the same.   Recently I wrote to the Minister responsible to urge him to make this a high priority, and to take other steps to support the solar industry too.

For now, the good news is that prices of many solar products have not gone up , so for most people thinking about installing solar panels, there's no need to delay plans.

But if the Government is serious about its ambition of 22GW of solar power by 2020 , Ministers need to do all they can to oppose the EU anti dumping measures – and to support firm and ambitious targets for the renewable energy sector more broadly.