SolarIndustryMag.com: U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs

U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs

by Jessica Lillian on Tuesday 15 November 2011

comments: 12

Abrupt changes to PV feed-in-tariff (FIT) policy have spurred the U.K.'s solar sector to take action in order to protect its livelihood. Our Solar Future, a U.K.-based industry organization, plans a mass lobby of Parliament on Nov. 22 in response to significant planned reductions to the country's FIT levels.

"This is an opportunity for people across the industry - as well as from environmental groups and other supports - to meet their [members of Parliament] and protest about the savage cuts to support for solar," the group wrote in a blog post.

The protest is the latest of several public and industry objections voiced against U.K. Climate Change and Energy Minister Greg Barker's Oct. 31 announcement of major solar subsidy reductions that are scheduled to go into effect Dec. 12.

Under Barker's proposal, PV installations under 4 kW would receive 21 p/kWh - less than half their current rate of 43.3 p/kWh - with all installations up to 250 kW also seeing a reduction. FIT levels for the largest eligible projects - 250 kW to 5 MW - would remain unchanged at 8.5 p/kWh.

In his announcement, Barker maintained that the changes are intended to put the U.K.'s solar sector on "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 a boom and bust."

Skyrocketing PV installation demand and declining installation costs since the FIT program began in April 2010 have fundamentally changed solar's cost equation, according to Barker. Payments of customers' FITs - which are derived from a ratepayer surcharge - now place a strain on program budgets and the nation's electricity bills, he added.

"The plummeting costs of solar mean we've got no option but to act so that we can stay within budget and not threaten the whole viability of the FITs scheme," Barker said.

But according to several U.K.-based solar firms - as well as the country's major business-sector lobbying organization - the FIT adjustments are too much, too soon.

John Cridland, director general of The Confederation of British Industry, criticized the Department of Energy and Climate Change's (DECC) abrupt change in its timetable for implementing the FIT changes.

"A reduction was already on the cards from April 1, but this will now come in by mid-December - before the consultation has even ended," Cridland said during a recent speech.

The DECC's decision to go forward with its FIT changes before the completion of certain reviews not only has caught the PV industry by surprise, but also may violate national law.

Solar energy installation company Solarcentury, along with a coalition of industry partners, has already taken legal action against the DECC's FIT cuts, calling the accelerated implementation schedule "illegal, irrational and unreasonable."

In response, the group has filed proceedings seeking an interim injunction to prevent the DECC from implementing the FIT cuts on Dec. 12.

"We expected a proper and fair consultation on the review of FITs," the coalition said in a statement. "We were all expecting a new tariff from April 2012 or, at worst, at the very end of a proper 'fast-track' process. Instead, we get a ready-made decision [that] seriously harms the solar industry and everyone in it, and gives us less than six weeks to save the businesses we have built up over multiple years."

Many large planned PV project contracts have already been canceled in the wake of the FIT announcement, causing major financial losses for nonprofit low-income housing providers and other entities, Solarcentury noted.

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Comments

	Anonymous	Reply
	15 Nov : 12:38
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs Slashing the FiT is great news. FiTs are a tax on those who are unable to install solar devices for the benefit of those that can. The FiT should be 100% abolished!

	Anonymous	Reply
	15 Nov : 16:02
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs Absolutly agree! The Feed in Tarrif is an unjustifiable tax! It is unfair and unsustainable.

	Anonymous	Reply
	15 Nov : 17:28
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs You obviously are a peasant that can't afford to instal PV

	Anonymous	Reply
	15 Nov : 18:07
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs The feed in tarriff may be "unfair and unsustainable" but failing to change the way we generate energy is also "unfair", to the poor who are and will be disproportionately affected by climate change, and "unsustainable" for the same reason. The ideal world where most of the rich people in the world selflessly invest in green energy simply will not happen. Abolition of the FiT is only justified if the government has an alternative for generating clean energy.

	Fred	Reply
	16 Nov : 04:27
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs Whether or not the FIt is fair is one point, how the government have behaved towards a growing industry is another. In times of recession to destroy the one of few growing sectors makes no sense. The world needs to change its energy sources, solar is an obvious choice as it is plentiful and will leave out all of us.

	Anon	Reply
	16 Nov : 09:45
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs FIT programs offload the the high cost of PV onto those who can't participate in the program. Unjust and unfair. The justification for this is supposed to be the environmental benefit of reduced carbon emissions. This is a crock. PV does virtually nothing to reduce carbon emissions - not only that, residential users of PV systems start consuming MORE electricity!! This increased consumption can actually exceed what they contribute!! This increased consumption MUST be "clawed back" from the FIT payments!! What the world really need to make solar, wind and other forms of "pollution free" energy viable, is low cost, safe, environmentally benign, electrical energy storage.

	Anon	Reply
	16 Nov : 09:53
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs Fools rush in - typically blinded by greed - and subsequently bitch that they are entitled to what they lusted for. The first thing anyone looking at getting into this business is that - GOVERNMENT PROGRAM END !!! This is a historical norm for the solar industry - at least in North America. To not expect or plan for this eventuality is stupid - but typically the result of greedy thinking. Here we have businesses trying to claim that they are entitled to the programs - and that poor people should be forced to subsidize rich people so the FIT businesses can make money......

	Macclesfield Renewables	Reply
	16 Nov : 10:11
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs There were definitely issues with the original FIT proposals that needed to be amended in time. With the cost of solar panel production decreasing, the 41p/kWh could not last forever. It wouldn't be sustainable. The technology eventually has to make economical sense on it's own without subsidies. However, the way the cuts have been handled has been nothing short of a farce. The 12th December led to complete chaos within in the industry and left countless companies and consumers in the lurch. I doubt any thought went into the deadline at all. A much more measured approach, where the tariff was reduced over a longer period of time, in stages would've been more appropriate. Not only has the dramatic cut been detrimental to the industry in terms of supply and demand, but there are long term effects that will prove difficult to reverse, In a new industry that needs the encouragement and investment from the 'greenest' government ever; we have been left plagued by uncertainty and have constantly been undermined because of the government's unwillingness to fully commit to it's supposed ideals. www.macclesfieldrenewables.co.uk

	Anon	Reply
	16 Nov : 11:23
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs What about all the people who couldn't afford solar panels but would benefit from free solar panels because of the Feed in Tariff. It's not just the rich who benefit from the scheme, investments on council properties and plans like this one that could benefit thousands of people are now being cancelled because of the governments inefficiency to deal with the situation properly!

	gebby	Reply
	16 Nov : 11:39
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs the poor are most impacted by AGW. reducing the fit is unfair especially to the poor.

	On holiday in Australia	Reply
	17 Nov : 06:34
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs Before anyone cries about the reduction in FITs check out the costs of solar PV in Australia. Less than half the cost of the UK. The reduction in FITs will lead to a reduction in the industry's pricing. Someone in the UK is making a killing on return on capital after FITs pricing. The sooner FITs reduce the sooner we get to sensible pricing

	potfest	Reply
	18 Nov : 13:22
	U.K. Solar Sector Protests Dramatic 'Illegal' Slashing Of PV Feed-In Tariffs Tesco called tonight unable to fit my solar installatio, crazy goverment , promises not kept.

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