Renewables Support Cut September 8, 2015 12:00 am Farm renewables projects could become far less attractive after the Government proposed cutting the amount of support for two key technologies. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has issued a consultation on the future level of Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) supporting renewable electricity generation. It is a wide-ranging review of the FIT system. A number of changes are proposed; support levels would fall across-the-board for solar PV, wind and hydro projects. As an example, small-scale solar PV projects under 10kW would receive 1.63p/kWh compared to the current 12.47p. Wind projects in the 100-500kW range will receive 4.52p/kWh instead of 10.85p ‘degression’ will see all support for solar PV below 10kW and above 1MW disappear by January 2019 wind projects over 1.5MW will no longer be eligible for FITs indexation will move from an RPI to a CPI basis (generally a lower figure) there will be a budget limit on the total level of support under FITs. Support levels for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) are not covered in the consultation, but are likely to follow shortly. The full document and supporting papers can be found at – https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-a-review-of-the-feed-in-tariff-scheme This consultation is part of a recent pattern of the Government pulling back support for renewables (see previous articles in July). There appears to be a view that support has been too generous and has not provided good value for money. Renewable projects will have to be viable far more on their own terms in future and less dependent on public subsidy.
