'Green' power installations will see changes in FIT subsidies
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From August of this year, solar-power installations will see a marked reduction in feed-in-tariff (FIT) subsidies, while energy-from-waste plants that use anaerobic digestion will see a small increase.
It comes after a lengthy consultation period on FIT pricing brought about by government concerns over the affordability of subsidising large-scale solar installations.
As of the beginning of August, installations of solar power that have between 50 and 150kW of total capacity will receive 19 pence per kilowatt-hour produced, down from 32.9 pence. Larger installations of up to 250kW will receive a reduced tariff of 15p/kWh and installations of between 250kW and 5MW of capacity will get 8.5p/kWh. Both larger sizes were previously paid 30.7p/kWh. Solar schemes of less than 50kW were unaffected by the review.
Meanwhile, AD facilities up to 250kW will receive 14p/kWh and those between 250 and 500kW, 13p/kWh — while some AD plants will also be eligible for the renewable heat incentive (RHC) subsidies, which are separate from the FIT scheme. Previously AD plants up to 500kW got 11.5p/kWh, with plants larger than this getting 9p/kWh.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said that, under the previous pricing bands, every 5MW large-scale solar scheme would incur a cost of approximately £1.3m per year — meaning that 20 such schemes would incur an annual cost of around £26m. This could otherwise support solar installations for more than 25,000 households, it points out.
‘Without action, the scheme would be overwhelmed. The new tariffs will ensure a sustained growth path for the solar industry, while protecting the money for householders, small businesses and communities, and will also further encourage the uptake of green electricity from anaerobic digestion,’ said climate minister Greg Barker.
However, solar-industry experts have criticised the announcements, saying that large-scale schemes — many of which were planned for areas in the south west — are more efficient than domestic-size systems.
Howard Johns, chairman of the Solar Trade Association, said: ‘Crushing solar makes zero economic sense for UK PLCs because it will lose us major manufacturing opportunities, jobs and global competitiveness. It also risks locking us into more expensive energy options in the future.’
Readers' comments (4)
Trevor Best | 10 Jun 2011 2:57 pm
Are we going Green or not? We are in a very awkward situation here where the Government's Environmental Departments have made carbon emissions reduction promises to the world at the Kyoto and other conferences, presumably to look big in other countries' eyes, and now we can't get there because promises made are too expensive! There is the debacle of the CRC rewards withdrawal and now the FIT payback rewards reduction. Today I read that the Government has imposed a Green stealth tax on domestic Gas and Electricity bills without notice or consultation. So where is that money going? I'll bet all of it does not end up in an Environmental push to limit carbon deposits. So we end up paying anyway. Why don't they stop wasting time and calculate how much they need to gain the technology and controls to meet Kyoto and take the money from us in one fell swoop, instead of creating convoluted methods and schemes that confuse and angers the people they need to co-operate. This Government is more and more reminiscent of a bunch of apprentices trying to get to grips with running a business and refusing to listen to people who know what to do.
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S. Martin | 12 Jun 2011 2:22 am
There are several issues with the above posting, the first being a Labour Government signed to the summits remit. Now we have a Conservative Government dealing with the aftermath of the Labour Governments spend, spend, spend policies which the country could not afford in prosperous times.
Now we have a recession, so what do we do? do we spend on such projects, or do we look after people in serious need of financial help.
This is the conundrum facing the current administration, with no money to spare we cannot afford such projects anyway.
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Anonymous | 12 Jun 2011 9:53 am
I have to say that I thought that the FIT were far too generous and would have created a monster market of very inefficient solar arrays a market that the general british public will be heavily subsidising. I was considering installing solar power as well as another member of my family but we will have to look at the costs again and reconsider the position.
In my opinion there are far more deserving causes that should be getting subsidies one of which is direct research into super efficient solar panels which I don't think the original FIT would have helped with.
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A Black | 13 Jun 2011 10:27 pm
Solar schemes have long payback times, often 10 to 15 years.
The government needs to pick a rate of subsidy they can afford and lock the levels in for at least 10 years for people to be able to see whether they can afford to invest in a solar scheme or not. Moving the goalposts like this makes us nervous.
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