Social Housing Solar PV Scheme Is Europe’s Largest Crowd-Funded Venture

Two renewable energy companies from Yorkshire and Scotland have embarked on a partnership to deliver what is claimed to be Europe’s largest ever crowd-funded solar energy project. Oakapple Renewable Energy (ORE), based in Leeds, is working with Glasgow-based Edison Energy to install up to 794 roof-mounted solar PV systems with a total capacity of 2,595 kW for Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA), in the Scottish Borders. The £3.1 million scheme will roll out over four months and will be installed on houses across Berwickshire helping to reduce tenants’ energy bills by as much as 30% without any cost to them, the partners said. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Subsidy Blow for Social Landlords’ PV Plans

The government has ditched plans to allow social housing photovoltaic schemes to benefit from a special status as ‘community energy projects’. The Department of Energy and Climate Change has ruled that landlords’ PV projects would not count as community schemes.  This won’t affect the feed-in tariff rate received by landlords – a subsidy paid by the government to producers of renewable electricity. But it does mean they will not be able to benefit from longer FIT guarantees or relaxed energy efficiency criteria for properties.  Landlords had hoped they would be included under the community status – which, in turn, they had hoped would receive a higher FIT rate – in recognition of the social benefits of tackling fuel poverty.  Instead social housing PV projects will receive 90 per cent of the FIT as suggested in April. Read more on Inside Housing.

Changes to Solar Subsidies Give Landlords More Time

The housing sector has cautiously welcomed reforms to solar subsidies, ending the long-standing uncertainty surrounding photovoltaic panels.  Climate change minister Greg Barker has announced that the feed-in tariff - an incentive paid to producers of renewable electricity - would be cut from 21p/kilowatt hour to 16.8p/kWh on 1 August rather than 1 July as it had indicated previously.  The move means landlords have an additional month to install PV at the higher FIT rate.  Under the new regime, the FIT will decline by an average of 3.5 per cent every three months, depending on the level of installations in the previous month, to reflect the falling cost of PV. There will be no cut if less than 200 megawatts is installed.  The life of the FIT has been reduced from 25 to 20 years, and the 2020 installation forecast was cut back from 22 gigawatts to 11.9GW.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Social Housing Could Be Saved From Extra FIT Cut

The government is consulting on plans to protect social housing solar photovoltaic panel schemes from an especially heavy cut to solar subsidies as part of an overhaul of the feed-in tariff system. In a consultation paper, climate change minister Greg Barker, proposes that social housing, community projects and distributed energy schemes should be exempt from an additional 20 per cent cut to the FIT rate for large scale solar schemes. The move will be welcomed by those that have lobbied for equal FITs rates for the social housing sector so that landlords can tackle fuel poverty - however, it will be largely eclipsed by the solar industry’s angry reaction to the bulk of the proposals that have seen an overhaul of the FIT. Under the new proposals, the government plans to introduce a mechanism for more regular degression of the FIT so that it is more closely linked to the falling costs of PV. This will mean more frequent cuts to the FIT leading to accusations from the sector that the government is inflicting further damage on the solar industry. The first reduction will see a 25 per cent fall in the FIT from the 1 April level of 21p on 1 July. The consultation closes on 3 April 2012, you can download a copy of the consultation paper from the DECC website.

Councils Urge Huhne to Rethink Solar Tariff Cut

The Local Government Association (LGA) has written to energy secretary Chris Huhne urging him to delay plans to halve to the rate of feed-in tariffs (FITs). The organisation warned that by reducing the subsidy earlier than planned, the government will force councils to pull the plug on thousands of solar panel installations, potentially costing them hundreds of millions of pounds. It is calling on the government to extend the deadline for the existing rate of subsidy until March 2012, the end of the financial year. At least four local authorities have already put solar power projects on hold, saying the funding cut renders them financially unviable. Read more on the LGA website.

Solar Rules to Exclude 86% of UK Homes

Just 14 per cent of UK homes would be eligible for incentive payments for generating electricity from photovoltaic panels under government proposals. A consultation published recently suggests restricting payments through the feed-in tariff scheme to homes that meet minimum standards of energy efficiency. One of the options is requiring homes to meet level C or higher of the energy performance certificate energy efficiency rating, which would mean 86 per cent of homes require work before they can access the FIT. The other proposal is to require all work that can be done through the green deal energy efficiency scheme to have been carried out before the FIT can be accessed. Both options are designed to ensure houses have basic energy efficiency work carried out before progressing to more sophisticated solutions such as fitting photovoltaic panels. They could also help to increase interest in the green deal, which is due to launch in autumn 2012. Read more on Inside Housing.

Race To Get Solar Panels Installed For Hundreds of Residents

Hundreds of council house tenants in Nottingham are in a race against time to get solar panels fitted. The panels would save some poorer residents about £120 a year on energy bills. Nottingham City Homes has already fitted free panels to nearly 600 homes in Aspley and Broxtowe Estate. It was due to carry out the work on 1,450 more homes by the end of March as part of a £10m project. NCH could then sell spare energy from these houses to the national grid. But the Government has said houses that do not have panels by December 12 will earn less for this spare electricity – 21p instead of 43p per unit. This means the project will not be financially viable for NCH, which now has less than six weeks to complete a five-month project. NCH boss Nick Murphy said: "We are still aiming to complete the entire programme originally promised to our tenants." Phil Angus, of Nottingham Energy Partnership, said the payment cut meant only "rich people who have got a spare £10,000" would be able to afford panels. He said: "These cuts were due but it's too much and too fast – it's a typical over-reaction."

Consultation on Feed-in Tariffs for Solar PV

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has issued a consultation paper on Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) for solar photovoltaic (PV) that will reduce the tariff for household solar electricity. Reduced subsidies for domestic solar electricity production have been proposed as part of an effort to keep the government's FITs scheme budget under control and reflect the plummeting costs of the technology. The proposals, subject to consultation, would introduce a new tariff for schemes up to 4kW in size of 21p/kWh – down from the current 43.3p/kWh. Reduced rates are also proposed for schemes between 4kW and 250kW, to ensure those schemes receive a consistent rate of return. For full details, see the Consultations page or go to the DECC website.