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.