The government’s consultation on the fast-track element of the first review of the FITs is highly controversial
The consultation was published on the 18th March 2011 and closed on 6th May 2011. Government published its ‘response’ on 9th June. This basically said that they would press ahead and introduce the changes as originally proposed.
See the government response here, the original consultation here, and how you should have responded here.
Fast-track review – key proposals
Government intends to slash the tariff levels for all PV installations above 50kW. They say they have to keep the cost of the FITs below £360m in 2014 (even though it’s not their money).
They propose changing the tariff levels by introducing new bands and setting the following tariffs to take effect from 1st August 2011.
| System type | System size | Generation tariff |
| Retrofit & new build | 50kW – 150kW | 19.0 p/kWh |
| Retrofit & new build | 150kW – 250kW | 15.0 p/kWh |
| Retrofit & new build | 250kW – 5MW | 8.5 p/kWh |
| Stand-alone | Up to 5MW | 8.5 p/kWh |
There are no transitional arrangements for projects already in the pipeline.
They have also proposed small increases to the tariffs for anaerobic digestion, and requested comments on the scope of the comprehensive review.
Responses to the consultation
There were more than 500 respondents. According to the government’s own figures, 81 per cent disagreed with the new tariff bands, and 73 per cent disagreed with the timing of their introduction.
Amongst those expressing their dismay are the National Farmers’ Union and the Renewable Energy Association.
Our thoughts (see our full response here)
This will kill the whole PV market over 50kW.
The lack of any transitional arrangements is disgraceful and amounts to acting retrospectively.