Epsom and Ewell Energy Group

Govt starts new process to cut solar subsidy payments

Government moves today (Thursday 19 January 2012) to cut solar subsidies by early March – reducing the uncertainty hanging over the solar industry since Ministers attempted to rush through payment cuts in December – have been welcomed by Friends of the Earth. The solar industry was left reeling – and 30,000 jobs thrown into jeopardy – when the Government announced plans last year to abruptly cut payments for any solar scheme completed after 12 December 2011 – 11 days before an official consultation into the proposals had even closed.

Continue Reading January 19, 2012 at 18:17 Leave a comment

Govt to appeal High Court solar ruling on 13 January

ndustry remains in dark over feed-in tariff rates after climate minister Greg Barker confirms appeal against high court ruling. DECC has consistently warned that delaying the proposed cuts to incentives could result in the feed-in tariff scheme exceeding its spending cap – a scenario that some solar industry insiders fear will result in deeper cuts to incentives from April.

Continue Reading January 6, 2012 at 17:53 Leave a comment

Surrey Green Homes 2012 weekend 24th and 25th March

Action Surrey, the group working across the whole of Surrey on energy issues, are running a weekend, on 24th – 25th March, where people across the county, who have installed energy efficient or energy generating measures into their homes, invite visitors in on one day, to find out more about the details, benefits, problems, costs etc. They did the same in 2011, with 30 properties open, and several hundred visits. They are asking if other households would like to take part this March.

Continue Reading January 6, 2012 at 17:13 Leave a comment

Petition to HM Government on getting a better rate for electricity generated by the early PV installers

Please sign this e-petition to the Government, which has been set up by Alan Watson, who is a member of the Epsom & Ewell Energy Group. It is about getting a better rate for electricity generated by the early PV installers, who took the risk and paid a higher price for installation, and now get a very low rate indeed.

Continue Reading January 4, 2012 at 19:22 Leave a comment

Next Energy Group meeting – Weds 25th January – on Fracking (hydraulic fracturing for shale gas)

“Fracking Hell” – the untold story of Hydraulic Fracturing for Shale Gas. Meeting at WS Atkings, at Woodcote Grove, starting 7.30pm. Open to anyone interested. No charge. “Fracking” is not only environmentally damaging, but there is drilling due to start shortly near Balcombe, in Sussex. Rob Basto, from Transition Redhill will explain what is going on, and why we may need to be concerned. Then there will be questions and discussion.

Continue Reading December 16, 2011 at 19:14 Leave a comment

High Court gives solar FiT legal action the go-ahead

Friends of the Earth and two solar firms have been given the go-ahead to challenge the Government in the courts over its plans to slash the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) for small-scale solar photovoltaic installations.

Continue Reading December 16, 2011 at 18:56 Leave a comment

EU bans production of 60 watt bulbs

Under EU regulation the production of 60 watt bulbs will cease, in an effort to encourage the use of more energy efficient lighting.

Continue Reading December 16, 2011 at 18:45 Leave a comment

LEDs offer a brighter future, says report

Under EU regulations, 60 watt light bulbs are being phased out.

Continue Reading December 16, 2011 at 18:43 Leave a comment

Setting sun: solar panels feed-in tariff halved

This is a good article from the Guardian giving a lot of information about the decision by “the greenest government ever” to cut Feed In Tariffs for photovoltaics by 50% with only 6 weeks’ notice, though no change was expected till April. At least two legal challenges have been threatened, including one by Friends of the Earth, if the government doesn’t back down on the 12 December deadline.There will also be a protest at Westminster on 22nd November.

Continue Reading November 11, 2011 at 23:56 Leave a comment

Solar subsidies to be cut by half – down to 21p from 43.3p after December

Government confirms last week’s leaked reports that feed-in tariffs are to be slashed, nearly doubling the payback period for householders

Adam Vaughan, Fiona Harvey and Hanna Gersmann
The Guardian,

Monday 31 October 2011

Solar power subsides will be cut by half, the Government said on Monday, as reported by the Guardian last Friday. Climate change minister Greg Barker, launching a consultation on feed-in tariff rates for solar photovoltaic panels, said he wanted to avoid the industry falling victim to “boom and bust”.

“The plummeting costs of solar mean we’ve got no option but to act so that we stay within budget and not threaten the whole viability of the Fits scheme,” said Barker.” Although I fully realise that adjusting to the new lower tariffs will be a big challenge for many firms, it won’t come as a surprise to many in the solar industry who’ve themselves acknowledged the big fall in costs and the big increase in their rate of return over the past year.”

The Department of Energy and Climate Change admitted its expectations had been far too low, with three times as much solar installed as it had projected, with over 100,000 installations so far.

The cut will almost double the payback period for householders, meaning someone installing £10-12,000 solar panels will only be in credit after 18 years rather than 10. The rate will be reduced from 43.3p per kWh of solar electricity to just 21p, cutting returns from around 7% to 4%.

Gaynor Hartnell, Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association (REA), said: “The REA had called for a more modest reduction some time ago. Had this been done, we’d have seen less boom and bust and the transition arrangements would be more straightforward. The installation rate is likely to fall drastically, and many of the 25,000 newly-employed in this industry may end up joining the dole queue.”

Although the solar industry said it could bear the cuts, many companies said the reductions would hurt the poorest consumers hardest. Lower income households are more likely to rely on free deals, whereby the installer takes the subsidy but the household gets free power – often enough to rescue people from fuel poverty.

While a PDF prematurely leaked last Friday on the Energy Saving Trust website noted that “these proposals are currently under consultation and are not final”, the figure is in line with earlier speculation that the rate would be cut by over half. It also said consumers considering solar should assume the 21p figure is what they will get if they install after 12 December, 11 days before the consultation closes.

A DECC spokeswoman said that the cut-off date was itself part of the consultation, and may change. Consumers who install solar before then will get the current higher rate; installs between 12 December 2011 and 1 April 2012 will get the higher rate before dropping to the lower rate after 1 April 2012; anyone installing after 1 April 2012 will just get the lower rate.

Howard Johns, MD of Southern Solar, who spotted the document, tweeted: “It seems that EST know exactly what the outcome of the Fit review already – so much for consultation.” Toby Ferenczi, chief technology officer at solar company Engensa, wrote: “This isn’t acceptable and will result in massive job losses – don’t be fooled.”

On Friday, a DECC spokesman said: “We’ll be publishing a full consultation on changes to the solar PV tariff changes in parliament on Monday. The Energy Saving Trust inadvertently published a draft of documentation on its website that was neither final nor accurate.” However, the figures are line with those disclosed by the Guardian.

The spokesman added that if government took no action now, by 2014-15, Fit payments for solar would be cost consumers £980m annually, adding £26 to electricity bills by 2020. Average electricity bills are estimated to be £556 by 2020, including the £26 if the Fits were not cut, according to DECC.

The government has argued that as the cost of solar power has come down, the subsidies should also be reduced as at present solar companies are absorbing some of the extra profits. Although the payback period has been reduced, the financial return at about 4% a year still beats most bank offerings and other financial investments available to individuals.

Prof Stephen Frankel, who chairs the Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network in Cornwall, which wants to install solar panels for free to local homes, warned the cuts would endanger the project.

“The Fit underpins these installations, and the benefits then flow not to outside speculators but are retained in the area and contribute to our community fund. This fund is available for local projects, as decided democratically by local people. We are now told that the Fit is to be curtailed drastically. If that is true, our efforts to act upon government advice and encouragement will have been for naught.”

Daniel Green, of the solar installer HomeSun, said people without the money to invest £10,000 or more upfront in roof panels would be hardest hit, as suppliers would no longer find it worth their while to install solar panels for them.

HomeSun is one of a range of companies fitting solar panels to homes and community buildings for free: the roof-owner gains free energy, and the subsidies are kept by the installer. Proponents of these schemes argue that it helps to rescue people from fuel poverty.

Green said: “In the residential sector, providers of free solar panels are around 50% of installations and they will disappear at anything less than 28p per kWh. This means the less well-off will not be able to benefit from solar.”

The news comes after the Government signalled support for the 25,000 jobs in the fast-growing solar industry. Barker said the Government wanted growth in solar panel installations to continue.

“We are determined not just to drive down carbon emissions but to build a successful, thriving, prosperous low-carbon economy,” he told a solar power conference in Birmingham.

“I’m personally committed to ensuring that your industry can prosper in the longer term, sustaining green jobs at a critical time for our economy, jobs that people can build a career on [and] that can help drive the recovery.”

Johns told the Guardian that the cuts would be a “disaster”. “If they go ahead with this, the tariff is way too low, and all the social housing and free solar schemes – which make the feed-in tariffs exciting in terms of fuel poverty – will be destroyed.” He added that this was the third government review into solar subsidies this year, saying: “We’ve invested business in PV [solar photovoltaic panels] and had it sliced up three times in a year. They [the Government] have no credibility on this any more.”

“You can’t do U-turns like this without having to answer for it – it puts the spotlight firmly on the coaliton’s green credentials,” he said.

Seb Berry, head of public affairs at the UK’s largest solar company, Solarcentury, said they would campaign against the proposals:

“The minister tried to reassure the industry yesterday that he supported this sector and valued our investment, jobs, innovation and rapid growth. Today those reassurances ring hollow.”

Juliet Davenport, CEO of utility Good Energy, said: “Feed-in tariffs have been successful at the end of the day because they give households control over their energy supply, insulating themselves from price hikes and reducing their carbon footprint.”

But consultancy PwC argued that the deep fast cuts proposed by the Government were better than the risk of a bubble which would lead to over capacity in the short-term, followed by cuts later, which would mean sharper job losses. “A deep and fast cut in Fits will be required to protect the UK solar industry from stalling or creating a market bubble before any rate changes take effect,” the consultancy said in a report on Friday.

On Thursday, Germany, the world’s biggest solar panel market, said it will also cut subsidies for solar photovoltaic power. Rates will be reduced 15% from January 2012, the Bundesnetzagentur, the federal grid regulator, announced. Power from panels will earn between €17.94 and €24.43 per kWh, depending on size and location.

Deep cuts to the popular tariff have been overseen in recent years, with the German government arguing that economies of scale and improvements in technology are resulting in rapid reductions in the cost of the sector, meaning the industry no longer needs such a high-level of state aid. Since Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) was introduced 11 years ago, providers are guaranteed fixed prices for the electricity they feed into the grid. Like the UK scheme it is paid for by consumers, adding €3.59 per kWh on energy bills or, according to calculations by the Rheinish-Westphalian Institute for Economic Research (RWI), €85.4bn for the solar built between 2000 and 2010 and ensuing payments.

The Bundesnetzagentur revises the tariff regularly. A 9% reduction every year is given by law, but it can be higher depending on actual new installations. Matthias Kurth, president of the federal grit regulator, said: “During the past 12 months an additional new capacity of approximately 5,200MW has been registered. This figure results in 15% lower remuneration compared to the actual Fit for systems connected to the grid from January 1 2012.” The rate could have been cut by as much as 24% (the annual cut’s ceiling) if a larger amount of solar had been added.

In 2010, Germany added a record 7,400MW solar power, and small green energy firms have become sizeable within just a few years. The renewable industry supports 380,000 jobs in total, 108,000 within the photovoltaic industry alone. “Germany is the global market leader in the renewable energy sector,” the German environment minister, Norbert Röttgen, said.

However, German solar cell manufacturers are struggling to keep up now that prices are collapsing and Chinese suppliers are flooding the market. “The prices are falling more rapidly than German manufacturers expected. But they will prevail in the long time because of the better quality,” Daniel Kluge from the German Renewable Energy Federation said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/28/solar-subsidies-cut-half?INTCMP=SRCH

and

FiT review update – 4kW or less will be reduced to 21p/kWh

http://www.solar-pv-uk.com/article/74455-FiT-review-update-%E2%80%93-4kW-or-less-will-be-reduced-to-21pkWh.php

Monday 31st October 2011

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have announced reduced subsidies for domestic solar electricity production as part of an urgent effort to keep the FiTs scheme budget under control.

The proposals, subject to consultation, would introduce a new tariff for schemes up to 4kW in size of 21p/kWh – down from the current 43.3p/kWh. Reduced rates are also proposed for schemes between 4kW and 250kW, to ensure those schemes receive a consistent rate of return.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Greg Barker said:

“My priority is to put the solar industry on a firm footing so that it can remain a successful and prosperous part of the green economy, and so that it doesn’t fall victim to boom and bust.

“The plummeting costs of solar mean we’ve got no option but to act so that we stay within budget and not threaten the whole viability of the FiTs scheme.

“Although I fully realise that adjusting to the new lower tariffs will be a big challenge for many firms, it won’t come as a surprise to many in the solar industry who’ve themselves acknowledged the big fall in costs and the big increase in their rate of return over the past year.

“Our proposal for an energy efficiency requirement, as well as the launch of the Green Deal next autumn, creates a massive opportunity for these firms to use their expertise to get a foothold in this exciting new market.

“People who are now thinking of installing solar PV need to do so with their eyes wide open and I’d encourage them to call the Energy Saving Trust for the latest advice.”

The cost of an average domestic PV installation has fallen by at least 30% since the start of the scheme – from around £13,000 in April 2010 to £9,000 now.

If the Government took no action, by 2014-15 FITs for solar PV would be costing consumers £980 million a year, adding around £26 (2010 prices) to annual domestic electricity bills in 2020. Our proposals will restrict FITs PV costs to between £250-280 million in 2014-15, reducing the impacts of FITs expenditure on PV on domestic electricity bills by around £23 (2010 prices) in 2020.

There is a finite funding allocation for the FITs scheme so as to limit the impact on energy consumers, who pay for the scheme through their bills.

A recent surge in households installing solar PV has threatened to break the budget. There were over 16,000 new solar PV installations in September alone – nearly double the number installed in June. And nearly three times as much solar PV as projected has so far been installed with over 100,000 separate installations with over 400MW of capacity.

The new proposed tariffs would apply to all new solar PV installations with an eligibility date on or after12 December 2011. Such installations would receive the current tariff before moving to the lower tariffs on1 April 2012. Consumers who already receive FITs will see their existing payments unchanged, and those with an eligibility date on or before 12 December will receive the current rates for 25 years.

The eligibility date of a project is based on it being commissioned (in working order) and having its request for accreditation received by a FiT licensee (schemes up to 50kW) or Ofgem (more than 50kW).

The proposed new tariffs will offer a rate of return of around 4.5% to 5% index linked and tax free (for domestic installations) for well-situated solar PV – broadly comparable to that intended when the scheme was set up. The tariffs are broadly comparable to those offered inGermany, which has also recently reduced its tariffs.

Today’s consultation also proposes:

● a new energy efficiency requirement that would mean from1 April 2012a property would have to reach a certain level of energy efficiency to receive the proposed new tariff rates. This could include reaching an Energy Performance Certificate level of C or taking up all the measures potentially eligible for Green Deal finance, depending on the outcome of the consultation. As a transitional arrangement, installations with eligibility dates between1 April 2012and31 March 2013would have 12 months from the eligibility date to comply with the energy efficiency requirement.

● new multi-installation tariff rates for aggregated solar PV schemes, i.e. where a single individual or organisation owns or receives FITs payments from more than one PV installation, located on different sites. The new tariff rates would apply to all new PV installations that are part of an aggregated PV scheme and have an eligibility date on or after1 April 2012. The new tariffs are set at 80% of the standard tariffs for individual installations.

The Government will also, as part of its review into the FiTs scheme, consider whether more could be done to enable genuine community projects to be able to fully benefit from FITs and whether, for example, a definition of community scheme is required and if so, how this should be defined.

October 31, 2011 at 19:12 Leave a comment

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