Discuss Fit review - Breaking News in the Solar PV Forum | Solar Panels Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

S

SRE

Confirming fears that have been mounting in recent weeks, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has launched a comprehensive review of the UK feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme, following claims that large-scale solar farms could ‘soak up money’ which was reportedly intended to help homes, communities and small businesses generate their own electricity.
Since the introduction of the FiT back in April 2010, the renewables industry has grown at a tremendous rate, especially in the solar sector. The FiT has stimulated green growth, driven innovation, created thousands of jobs and cut tonnes of carbon emissions. More than 19,000 solar installations have been recorded by Ofgem, which amounts to approximately 56MW registered under the scheme.
Last year’s Spending Review committed Government to save 10% of the costs of the FiT in 2014-15 through a review due to start in 2012 or earlier if uptake exceeded Government expectations. The Government is yet to explain what this trigger point will look like, yet it has admitted that the system did not anticipate large-scale field arrays. Since plans for many of these industrial-scale projects have been submitted in recent months, the coalition is today announcing a comprehensive review into the scheme.
“The renewables industry is a vital piece in the green growth jigsaw and this review will provide long term certainty while making sure homes, communities and small firms are encouraged to produce their own green electricity.
“Large-scale solar installations weren’t anticipated under the FiT scheme we inherited and I’m concerned this could mean that money meant for people who want to produce their own green electricity has the potential to be directed towards large-scale commercial solar projects,” explained Huhne.
The comprehensive FiT review will:
· Assess all aspects of the scheme including tariff levels, administration and eligibility of technologies;
· Be completed by the end of the year, with tariffs remaining unchanged until April 2012 (unless the review reveals a need for greater urgency);
· Fast track consideration of large-scale solar projects (over 50kW) with a view to making any resulting changes to tariffs as soon as practical, subject to consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny as required by the Energy Act 2008.
The Government will not act retrospectively and any changes to generation tariffs implemented as a result of the review will only affect new entrants into the FiT scheme. Installations which are already accredited for FiT at the time will not be affected.
The DECC hopes to publish next month measures to support renewable heat within the budget agreed at Spending Review.
 
Small print !!! 1. http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/state_aids/comp-2010/n094-10.pdf - this document is the UK government's submission to the EU that describes the FiT scheme and gains EU approval for it.



"However, levels of FITs to plants existing at the time of these future reviews will,
in general, be maintained to provide long term certainty for investors."

If the terms were absolutely and unequivocally set in stone then there would have been no need to include the phrase 'in general' which allows room for an opt out in unspecified circumstances.

And para 91 says:

To provide long term certainty for investors, the UK authorities intend to maintain
the levels of FITs to plants existing at the time of future reviews (see section 2.7.7),
which could entail some risk of overcompensation. In this respect, the UK
authorities committed to adjusting tariffs for generators existing at the time of
future reviews if circumstances have changed to the extent that they would result in
overcompensation. The Commission considers that this mechanism should ensure
that no beneficiary will be overcompensated over time.
 
Oh dear oh dear oh dear, it was just a matter of time really before Cameron reviewed/stopped/reduced the FiT, the government may have realised that in the UK it's not a viable proposition and perhaps the money could be spent on something that is.

This may not be the end of the Tariff,s but it's planting the seeds.
 
zeljuga - it's very good of you to quote one of my posts from another forum - but an attribution would've been in order and where it could be seen in context and, as I posted it last October, the fact that it doesn't specifically apply to the current review. :)

FITs rate cut?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Reply to Fit review - Breaking News in the Solar PV Forum | Solar Panels Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock