Feed-in tariffs: thinking big, or redefining small, asks Malcolm Dowden
Feed-tariffs (FiTs) were introduced in April 2010 to promote investment in and uptake of “small-scale” renewable and low carbon electricity generation technologies. The scheme requires licensed electricity suppliers (FiT licensees) to pay a generation tariff to small-scale low-carbon generators for:
- electricity generated (whether or not that electricity is exported to the national grid); and
- an export tariff to them where electricity is also exported to the national grid.
The scheme is applicable to a number of technologies up to a maximum capacity of 5MW. However, the Coalition government has proposed amendments, due to take effect on 1 August 2011, limiting full payments under the scheme in respect of solar photovoltaic (solar pv) installations to 50kW, with significantly reduced incentives for installations between 250kW and 5MW. The Coalition government’s decision was preceded by a series of announcements by minister of state Greg Barker characterising use of FiTs for commercial-scale solar pv installations as “abuse” of a scheme designed for small-scale domestic installations. Chris Huhne adopted similar language, declaring that “large scale solar installations weren’t anticipated under
