Member Article

Industry body criticises solar subsidy cuts

The solar power industry have criticised proposed changes to the the Renewables Obligation (RO), the government’s framework for supporting renewable energy projects .

The consultation document for the proposals was published by the Department for Energy and Climate Change on Friday.

Solar subsidies would be cut 25% under the proposals, with Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) for solar farms being reduced from two to 1.5.

Suppliers must present ROCs to Ofgem in order to demonstrate their fulfilment of the RO. Renewable producers can sell their ROCs to suppliers who do not have sufficient certificates to avoid paying a penalty.

The changes would also see RO subsidy cut entirely for solar installations below five megawatts, which would instead only be supported by the Feed-in Tariff.

The Solar Trading Association (STA) has come out against the proposals, saying the cuts to subsidies are “too big and too soon”.

The body also expressed concerns that the projections used in the consultation document were out of date. The figures used go back to October 2011.

On the plan to exclude schemes below five megawatts, STA CEO Paul Barwell said it “will mean unfairly constraining a cost-effective technology.”

The deadline for contributions to the consultation is 19 October and the changes are set to be implemented by April next year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Cooper .