DECC plans ‘certainty’ for solar PV FiTs
Forward-looking reforms for Feed-in Tariffs from the Department of Energy & Climate Change set a new rate of 16 p/kWh for domestic installations, down from 21 p, with decreases every three months thereafter. The lifetime of the scheme has been reduced from 25 years to 20 years for new installations. All tariffs will continue to be linked with the Retail Price Index, and the export tariff will be increased from 3.2 to 4.5 p. If uptake is low, the DECC plan is for Tariff cuts to be skipped for up to two quarters.
According to DECC, the new tariffs should give a return on investment of over 6% for most typical, well-sited installations and up to 8% for the larger bands.
Energy & Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said, ‘Today starts a new and exciting chapter for the solar industry. The sector has been through a difficult time, adjusting to the reality of sharply falling costs, but the reforms we are introducing provide a strong, sustainable foundation for growth for the solar sector. We can now look forward with confidence to a future for solar which will see it go from a small cottage industry anticipated under the previous scheme, to playing a significant part in Britain’s clean-energy economy.’
Uptake in three different bands will determine the quarterly reductions in those bands. They are up to 10 kW, 10 to 50 kW, above 50 kW and standalone installations.
Organisations with more than 25 solar PV installation will get 90% of the standard applicable tariff — up from 80% to reflect new evidence on costs involved for these projects
Information from solar-energy company REC indicates a total installed capacity for solar PV of 1.1 GW — against a Government target of 22 GW by 2020. 66.2 MW was installed during May 1012, 6% more than April.
