Duncan Clark at guardian.co.uk posted this article on 10th June 2011. To read the full version, please click here.
As expected, the government on Thursday announced cuts to the subsidies given to large-scale solar photovoltaic installations. The cuts were introduced in a bid to ensure that the money assigned to the feed-in tariffs (Fits) programme for the period of the current parliament didn’t get quickly eaten up by large investor-driven solar systems, leaving nothing for householders and small community projects. As Greg Barker told me last week, “the focus of the current scheme needs to be on the small scale, to get the maximum number of installations”.
Given that the total amount of money that can be given out via the Fits is capped, skewing the scheme in favour of small systems is reasonable, but two important questions remain unanswered. First, given the rate of small-scale installations, how long will the Fits funding pot last? Second, why is there a cap in the first place?…
…Howard Johns, chair of the Solar Trade Association, claims that the coalition’s decision to turn this indicative figure into a hard cap “was pushed through without consultation, based on a spreadsheet that no one had seen”.
Feed-in tariffs cuts cast solar future in a new light
Duncan Clark at guardian.co.uk posted this article on 10th June 2011. To read the full version, please click here.
As expected, the government on Thursday announced cuts to the subsidies given to large-scale solar photovoltaic installations. The cuts were introduced in a bid to ensure that the money assigned to the feed-in tariffs (Fits) programme for the period of the current parliament didn’t get quickly eaten up by large investor-driven solar systems, leaving nothing for householders and small community projects. As Greg Barker told me last week, “the focus of the current scheme needs to be on the small scale, to get the maximum number of installations”.
Given that the total amount of money that can be given out via the Fits is capped, skewing the scheme in favour of small systems is reasonable, but two important questions remain unanswered. First, given the rate of small-scale installations, how long will the Fits funding pot last? Second, why is there a cap in the first place?…
…Howard Johns, chair of the Solar Trade Association, claims that the coalition’s decision to turn this indicative figure into a hard cap “was pushed through without consultation, based on a spreadsheet that no one had seen”.