Leeds Solar Blog

Edited to add : This article was based on the mistaken assumption that a quarter of a year was 3 months, unfortunately DECC seem to think that a quarter can also be 2 months, so the next FIT cut is actually scheduled for 1st July and not 1st August as we had originally stated.

Leeds Solar's analysis of the latest weekly solar PV installation statistics released by DECC clearly demonstrates that there is no possibility that the quarterly installed capacity will reach the cut off threshold needed to trigger a Feed In Tariff cut on 1st May.

Google Trends Analysis; Solar PV, England

Leeds Solar have used the google trends website to analyse the trend in the number of searches for the term 'solar PV' by google users based in England, and the results are fairly shocking.

Greg Barker once again used the now apparently recognised channel for making government announcements and used his Twitter feed to announce the following;

Having listened carefully to industry, we are looking at scope for pushing back a little the next proposed reduction in the #solar tariffs

As per usual, this announcement does nothing to clarify the situation, as the lack of an announcement on Friday 11th May, 40 parliamentary days before 1st July, already meant that we knew that any cuts would have to be delayed a little. We can't help but suspect that this announcement about a slight delay is more likely the result of a cock up at DECC regarding the date they needed to make the announcement on than DECC actually listening to the industry.

30th June 2012 is the next proposed date for further Feed In Tariff cuts;

Book now for pre 30th June installations

*03/05/12 update*

It looks like we misinterpreted th figures, and DECC proposed to reference only the installation figures from 4th March-end of April 2012 to determine the FIT cuts, so the installations up to the 3rd March FIT cut shouldn't count. If this is the case, then the figures should be well into the lowest band, and the proposed 1st July FIT cut should be the smaller of the 3 proposed options for the cuts with <4kW installations moving from 21p to 16.8p per kWh.

In the phase 2a consultation document DECC laid out their plans for a further cut in the Feed In Tariff rate from 1st July 2012, with the level of that cut being based upon the capacity of solar PV with eligibility dates in 4th March to end of April 2012.

DECC gave 3 bands for the installation rates in that period that would lead to different FIT reductions as follows;

Option A = over 200MW installed, 

Leeds Solar summarise the decisions DECC announced today resulting from the Feed In Tariff consultation started in October 2011.

Feed In Tariff rates for solar PV

FIT rates from 3rd March-30th June will definitely be those proposed in the consultation, as set out below.

*update 10/2/2012*

Leeds Solar have now filled all our installation slots for February and are now taking bookings for March installations only.

The Government today released a guide to their take on the current situation with the Feed In Tariff levels, the court decisions and what their decision to apply for permission to appeal to the Supreme court means.

Leeds Solar have reproduced it in 2 parts. This is part 2, part 1 is available at this link

Please note that as DECCs actions have currently been found to have been illegal by 2 of the highest courts in the UK, we're publishing this for information purposes only, but recommend that anything DECC say here be treated with caution as it is likely to be heavily spun. We will attempt to analyse this and respond asap.

The Government today released a guide to their take on the current situation with the Feed In Tariff levels, the court decisions and what their decision to apply for permission to appeal to the Supreme court means.

Leeds Solar have reproduced it in 2 parts. This is part 1, part 2 is available at this link

DECC briefing on the Feed In Tariff Appeal 26/01/12 part 1

*10.12.2012 - UPDATE*

*Please note this is an old blog post from the start of 2012, but seems to be getting a lot of hits still - the information is now a year out of date, please ignore it*

Following our recent blog post analysing the implications of the latest installed PV figures on the FIT budget for 2012-13, we've done some further digging and found out that DECC have done a brilliant homage to Sir Humphrey.

DECC have sneaked out an increase to the FITs budget spending envelope, by taking the money from the ROCs budget spending envelope, then claiming that it's neither an increase in the FIT budget spending envelope or a decrease in the ROC budget spending envelope despite the FIT budget going up, and the ROC budget* going down. This is because the ROC budget apparently always included money that was intended to have been in the FIT budget but they'd left it in the ROC budget because the dog ate it.

I say 'sneaked out' because they made no announcement about it, simply tucked the change away in a table and explanation note in the catchily titled 'Control Framework for DECC levyfunded spending Questions and Answers' released on the fuel poverty section of their website on the 8th December... a date when the entire industry was a wee bit busy to notice.

With the latest DECC figures showing over 800MWp of installed solar PV capacity in the UK, Leeds Solar have been analysing the latest figures to see what the impact of this level of installed capacity will have on the treasury imposed FIT budget cap for 2012-13.

Analysis of UK Installed Solar PV Capacity as of 21/12/2011, and the total payments due for this installed capacity alone in 2012-13

As of 12th December 2011 the Feed In Tariff rates are proposed to be reduced significantly. The government proposal is for the rate for up to 4kWp installtions (standard domestic systems) to be reduced to 21p per kWh. It is our understanding that while this rate is still technically under consulation, it is virtually certain that this is the final rate that will be applied once the consulation ends.

The Feed In Tariff (FIT) is a government backed scheme that is designed to guarantee good long term financial returns for home owners with suitable roofs who choose to invest some of their savings in a Solar PV installation on their house.