Storm Clouds Forming Over Solar Industry?

DECC has published proposals to reduce Renewable Obligation support for solar on large roofs and solar farms, alongside some changes to the rules for smaller projects.

The Renewables Obligation currently supports solar farm projects between 50kW & 5MW is potentially going to be closed on 1st April 2016. Critically, DECC is also proposing to end ‘grandfathering’ within a scheme so the ‘guarantee’ of a certain level of subsidy being provided for the lifetime of a running project will be withdraw. Instead, the rate will only be installed at the point of installation/commissioning.

With regards to Feed-in Tariff which supports small-scale rooftop & solar farms, the proposal is to remove pre-accreditation to a fixed tariff level meaning that the complex community and commercial projects that take longer to complete could have to deal with reducing tariff levels between the start and completion of a project. The ‘grace’ periods put forward for projects already in pipeline are limited so we are urging all our clients to fast track any schemes that they are considering, ahead of the changes.

As always, Wallis Cutts Energy Management are monitoring these proposed changes closely and we will provide updates as further information is released.

If you would like to know more or discuss how best to approach Renewable Energy Projects, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

The proposed changes do not limit our ability to provide true off balance sheet funding for Solar Projects in the form of Renewable Energy Agreement’s that can reduce your energy bill by up to 50%.

We recently released an Energy Cost Warning Document that clearly demonstrated a 42% increase in energy cost over the next 5 years. There has never been a more important time to deploy Solar PV through an REA but the quicker this important technology is deployed, the greater the benefit.