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.