MSE News: Legal battle launched over solar subsidy cuts

jamesd

The government probably cares too much rather than too little. It's in too much of a hurry over solar at least when prices are falling rapidly and it's best to wait then get more for the same money. Have a look at the talk of plans to massively increase spending to increase the speed of renewables generation installations to hit the Renewable Energy Directive target of increasing renewable generation from 3% in 2009 to 15% by 2020. But it's looking at more like 30% or more.

Today the effect of the subsidies of various sorts is estimated by the DERR(page 27) to add around 15% to consumer electricity prices (and since the power part is about half of the bill, that's more like 30% added to the wholesale power cost). By 2020 it was expected to increase to 27% with these changes to feed in tariff's, was 33% without them. So we're already looking at a more than 50% increase in wholesale power costs by 2020 from subsidies to renewable power.

Cardew

rids25 wrote: »

What amazes me is that this Government preach to us about green house gasses and the like but when it comes down to it I don't think they give a dam. I want solar power on my roof to use the sun to power my electrical products . I am doing my bit to save the planet. We are told that being in the EU is right for this country. WELL Mr Cameron and the rest of parliament Europe again are well ahead of the UK in using Solar Panels why are YOU trying your utmost to stop us following in their suit.

Welcome to the forum.

I don't think you have quite grasped what is happening.

The Government(the previous Government) decided that £xxx million would be spent on solar. That money is to be paid by all other electricity customers.

They fixed a level of subsidy to encourage people to fit solar and it was intended to review that level of subsidy for for new participants.

Anyway they have found that the subsidies were far too generous and the solar industry was making huge profits and the take up far exceeded their forecasts and there was a danger of funds running out.

So they decided to reduce the subsidy sooner than expected - which has caused howls of protest from the solar industry who see their cash cow being led away earlier than expected.

By the Government cutting the subsidy by 50%, they will get twice as many solar panel installations 'to save the planet' (as you put it) for the same money.

That is exactly what every other EU country have done.

So your criticism of the Government is a little misplaced - their actions will enable twice as many people with your high ideals to enjoy solar.

lisyloo

their actions will enable twice as many people with your high ideals to enjoy solar.

Surely that doesn't work in practice.
There are people who woul have put it in at 43p but won't at the new rate.

The_Green_Hornet

The High Court ruled that it was the way the UK government rushed the introduction of the Feed-in Tariff cuts was illegal and not the cuts themselves so this will end up as a hollow victory by Friends of the Earth, Homesun and Solarcentury.

Anyway the biggest disincentive against installing solar panels is not the cut in FiT but the new requirement to insulate your home to the "C" category of household energy efficiency to qualify for payments as that would bar nearly 90 percent of British homes from eligibility.

Cardew

lisyloo wrote: »

Surely that doesn't work in practice.
There are people who woul have put it in at 43p but won't at the new rate.

Certainly many people won't install at the new FIT rates.

However many installed solar when there was no FIT.

The fact is that the government authorised a fixed amount over a 4 year period as the maximum we, the customer, would have to pay.

With the level of subsidies so high, and making the stupid error of allowing Rent -a - Roof companies to exploit a loophole and claim the subsidy meant for individuals, 90% of that money has already been spent.

There will be no difficulty in spending the remaining 10%.

The hypocrisy about this situation is that the stupid Friends of the Earth are arguing that it will devestate the Solar PV industry.

2 years ago there were very few companies installing Solar PV and it has just mushroomed because of the stupid level of subsidies and the chance to make a quick buck.

rogerblack

Rent-a-roof is often blamed.
I've not seen any figures as to the proportion of the recent installs they were. Anyone have figures for private vs commercial/governmental installs?

whasup

rids25 wrote: »

What amazes me is that this Government preach to us about green house gasses and the like but when it comes down to it I don't think they give a dam. I want solar power on my roof to use the sun to power my electrical products . I am doing my bit to save the planet. We are told that being in the EU is right for this country. WELL Mr Cameron and the rest of parliament Europe again are well ahead of the UK in using Solar Panels why are YOU trying your utmost to stop us following in their suit.

Most of Europe is also well ahead on sunshine. Which might be a factor.

whasup

lisyloo wrote: »

Surely that doesn't work in practice.
There are people who woul have put it in at 43p but won't at the new rate.

Not so sure about that. 4 or 5 months ago I was seeing companies quoting 8 or 9 years payoff and 10-12% return over 25 years. Now they're quoting 9 or 10 years payoff and still about 10% return. Considering the FIT has been halved that shouldn't really be possible should it?. Unless those naughty solar panel people have been ripping people off for the last 12 months. But they've got green in their name so obviously that can't be right either. It's a mystery.

jamesd

lisyloo wrote: »

There are people who woul have put it in at 43p but won't at the new rate.

Right, but:

1. There's no shortage of people, as the huge surge in installations has demonstrated.
2. Panel prices have been falling and look to fall a lot more, so the return on investment will go up anyway, even with lower rates, even if it takes a little while to happen.
3. Installers have been making hay, no need for it to be as profitable as it has been.

The_Green_Hornet wrote: »

Anyway the biggest disincentive against installing solar panels is not the cut in FiT but the new requirement to insulate your home to the "C" category of household energy efficiency to qualify for payments as that would bar nearly 90 percent of British homes from eligibility.

The Green Deal plan may take care of that. I certainly hope so and that it's funded very heavily so lots of people can use it quickly.

rogerblack

jamesd wrote: »

The Green Deal plan may take care of that. I certainly hope so and that it's funded very heavily so lots of people can use it quickly.

The green deal isn't that straightforward.
In most cases, if you are not going to move, you'd be better off insulating the property yourself, and recouping the money in savings over the years.

Especially if you can do some fraction of the work DIY.

It suffers from some of the same issues as the MCS does with panels.

Only approved contractors.
Probably at a large markup.
No DIY.