Call to halt UK FIT degression

Share

U.K. Energy regulator Ofgem has revealed the rate paid for non-domestic (more than 50 kW) solar installations will automatically fall from 7.1p/kWh (US$0.10) to 6.85p/kWh in May, regardless of the amount of capacity installed.

Trade body STA says even the higher rate has failed to encourage large-scale commercial and industrial installations with just 9 MW added in the 250 kW to 5 MW sector since August, and 6 MW of community solar in that time. Paul Barwell, the CEO of STA said, "I urge Ofgem and DECC not to degress these FIT bands in May."

With ministers considering whether to increase the maximum capacity for which FITs are available under the U.K. government's Energy Bill, the STA says there are more pressing concerns.

The trade body says more urgency should be paid to making the large rooftop sub sector of solar (installations up to 1.5 MW) eligible for FITs rather than placing it under the Renewables Obligation (RO) as it currently is.

"While DECC has sought to recognize the large-roof sub sector under the RO," added Barwell, "the FIT is the best mechanism for actors in the commercial, public and community sectors, who need a user-friendly support scheme. We're in danger of developing an illogical and messy policy framework if we don't deal with the obvious failures under the existing scheme."

Popular content

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Share

Related content

Elsewhere on pv magazine...

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.