Solar Feed In Tariff Website

Since the intoduction of the government’s feed-in tariff scheme in April 2010, renewable energy and the potential for individuals to cash in has been a running theme in the British media. While certain newspapers have taken a negative view of the potential for green energy and an even dimmer view of some of the companies attempting to take advantage of the new legislation, there is little doubt that feed-in tariffs have had a big impact on the British mindset on renewables.

Historically reactive and often adverse to change, the British public is becoming increasingly aware of the financial rewards that can come from investing in renewable energy based on feed-in tariff pay outs both for the energy used by the household and energy fed back into the national grid. Once commercially unviable, feed-in tariffs work by offering premium, guaranteed rates to renewable micro-generator thus off-setting the high costs of solar panels while offering attractive returns to investors over a period of 20-25 years. This financial mechanism has led to a great deal of companies springing up with offers to fit solar panels to households for free, the benefit to the homeowner being reduced utility bills and the benefit to the companies being long term returns from the tariff.

Indeed, British Gas research alone has shown that the tariff will spur around half of Britain’s homes to eventually invest in solar panels, bringing in an annual revenue of between £600 and £1000. The national grid, which has been criticised of late for its perceived inability to cope with the shift towards green energy has released findings about the future for solar energy in the UK. Certainly, with the UK on target to meet its climate change targets within the next decade, it seems that solar photovoltaic (pv) should also go from strength to strength on the back of the tariff legislation. The national grid has shown that within the next 10 years around 31,950 MW of solar panels will be connected.

The national grid has shown that around 29,000 MW will be needed to exceed government targets of generating 15 per cent of energy by renewable means. This would mean enough energy to power around 20 million homes, a massive change in the way energy is both generated and consumed in the UK. The national grid has shown that while we are certainly on the right track in order to bring about a root change in the way the UK generates energy, the government has to remain focused on renewable energy. With a review of tariff rates due, it will be essential that the government maintains a tariff rate which continues to incentivise long-term investment.

Tags: National grid, renewable feed-in tariff, renewable investment, solar energy, Solar Feed In Tariff, solar investments, solar PV

With the British government currently assessing the details of the feed-in tariff which is to be introduced in 2010, they will undoubtedly heed the example of Spain and the way in which the government there failed to live up to the initial expectations of the tariff. Spain, despite having one of the strongest photovoltaic sectors in the world, failed to capitalize on the successes of the solar industry there by changing the way PV investment was subsidized, something which has led to a steep decline in photovoltaic investment and installation in that country.

In conjunction with the global financial crisis which has taken a particularly strong hold of the Spanish economy, the reduction in solar investment has contributed to a culling of jobs and cutbacks in PV manufacturing in Spain, something which will see a surplus of PV plant being exported to growing solar sectors elsewhere in the world.

Industry insiders in the UK have put pressure on the government and lobbied the Department of Energy and Climate Change by expressing the importance of a feed-in tariff which stimulates sector growth by offering incentives and security to investors. It is generally accepted that a tariff rate of at least 20p per unit of electricity fed-in to the national grid by small scale energy suppliers would be sufficient in part to kick-start the solar industry in the UK following its inauguration in 2010.

Certainly, elsewhere where comprehensive feed-in tariff legislation has been introduced there have been marked successes in the uptake of photovoltaic technology and job creation in renewable industries. In Germany for example, the feed-in tariff legislation has proved to be consistent and generous in the provisions offered to those wishing to invest in the German green sector. Indeed, the German tariff model is often held up as an example of how to incentivise investment and build public awareness.

Spain is expected to experience a dramatic reduction in photovoltaic installation in 2009 with 375MW compared to 2008 installations of 2,500MW. Spain will now fail to live up to its ambitions of becoming the European Union’s leading renewable energy producer by 2020 largely because the Zapatero’s government has neglected the tariff scheme across the country. The introduction of a 500MW project cap along with the withdrawal of essential subsidies has seen the solar industry stagnate and since the new year, decline. Members of the solar industry in the UK will therefore be hoping that the British government follows the example of Germany rather than Spain in the way that they choose to roll out the much talked about feed-in tariff next year.

Tags: Britain, Department of Energy and Climate Change, feed in tariff, FIT, Germany, green sector, Kevin Langley, National grid, photovoltaic, PV, renewable feed-in tariff, Solar Feed In Tariff, solar policy, solar power, Spain, spanish feed-in tariff