Solar Feed In Tariff Website

Wadebridge, sitting in picturesque North Cornwall is a sight to behold with its abundance of solar panels furnishing rooftops with not inexpensive solar pv equipment. This concentration of roof mounted solar pv panels in Wadebridge has not occurred by chance, rather it is the result of a project designed to make the Cornish town the first in the country to be powered by solar energy.

The project, known as the Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network or WREN is a scheme which hopes to meet self set targets of generating a third of its electricity from solar by 2015. By hooking into the government’s feed-in tariff mechanism WREN has hoped to install projects throughout the town and of course off sets costs through the tariff scheme. With bold targets of installing 7MW by 2015, Wadebridge could become a potential beacon for wholesale community solar projects in the UK but of course also reflects the fickle nature of an industry completely reliant on government tariff legislation.

The feed-in tariff enables small scale solar pv generators to generate revenue for the electricity produced and consumed by solar projects. Through the feed-in tariff WREN has projected that it could potentially generate £2.5million over the project’s 25 year life span with the money being reinvested back into other green energy projects. Recent announcements of the cuts to be made to the tariff could prove detrimental to Wren’s plans and the potential for healthy yields over the course of the project.

Stephen Frankel, the founder of Wren explained that,

“In contrast to recent green announcements, their success could be limited due to Government proposals to restrict the size of solar installations in the UK”.

“Proposals to limit the Feed-in tariff, payment for clean electricity, to small 50kWp systems means the town wouldn’t go ahead with mid to large scale projects which would bring much needed income into their community fund and help the town meet their renewable energy targets”.

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With the government’s consultation on proposed cuts to the feed-in tariff drawing to a close, solar industry members are anxious to see how drastic changes to the tariff will be. Many involved within the UK solar industry are fearful that reductions in the solar tariff of up to 70 per cent for pv energy generators over 50MW. Whatever the nature of changes to the solar feed-in tariff mechanism, it is more than likely that the worst affected will be large scale installations such as the large scale solar farm sites which were looking to tap into tariff revenue.

The solar feed-in tariff works by guaranteeing fixed, premium rates for units of energy both used and fed-back into the grid by small scale pv generators. The government has made it clear that it would like to see households benefitting from this scheme rather that large scale projects. Indeed, smaller scale solar businesses have argued that this change is necessary to ensure that funding goes to those areas which most need capital. While this may be the case, other solar businesses have stressed vehemently that strong tariff support for larger scale projects is essential as it will be those projects whch drive the industry, bring costs down and of course put impetus on technological innovation.

Whatever the differentiation between small and large scale projects made by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the essential fact is that reducing the feed-in tariff will harm the UK solar industry by significantly reducing investor confidence in solar projects. All previous research and experience from abroad has shown that a strong tariff system is needed in order to provide investors in solar pv with long term returns on investment protected by government legislation; where these tariffs fall by the wayside, investor confidence in ROI tends to as well. Many within the industry have therefore been lobbying the government incessently, trying to convince the DECC of the need to rethink proposed cuts. Leonnie Greene of the Renewable Energy Association stated that,

“Our view is that the overall ambition is much too low and the government clearly does not understand the strategic importance of solar. We are going back to a scenario where a few wealthy green home owners can install solar, when we want to be widening access to solar, particularly through community scale projects.”

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