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

Book now for pre 30th June installations

The government has proposed a further cut to the Feed In Tariff rates for solar PV from 30th June 2012, with the level of this cut being dependant upon the volume of installations that were registered in March and April.

Our analysis of these installation figures shows that it's likely that these cuts will mean the current 21p/kWh FIT rate for below 4kW solar PV installations could fall to 16.5p/kWh with similar cuts for larger 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, 

Option B = 150-200MW installed, 

Option C = under 150MW 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.

In the wake of the Court of Appeal's decision to throw out the Government's appeal about the Feed In Tariff cut date, there has been a considerable upsurge in demand for Solar PV installations before 3rd March from customers hoping to benefit from the potential return to the previous 43.3p FIT rate that would apply IF the Government appeal is also rejected by the Supreme Court.

This has led to significant supply problems for some makes and models of panels and inverters.

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.

BRIEFING ON OUTCOME OF FITS JR APPEAL

Overview

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

KEY FACTS:

GB Feed in Tariffs Scheme | Key Facts

DECC have announced their plan B for the Feed In Tariff scheme if, as seems likely, they lose their current High Court appeal against the ruling before Christmas that the original 12th December cut off date for the 43.3p FIT rate for solar PV to be changed to 21p was illegal.

A brief overview of the situation as Leeds Solar see it

*UPDATE 5/02/12*

As we predicted, the government lost it's appeal in the High Court, however the Government has since announced it's intention to appeal again to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court have stated that they are unlikely to be able to rule on this appeal for several months, certainly not until after 3rd March.

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.

To be honest, we can't help but be impressed with this ingenius slight of hand, that at least means the FIT's scheme should stay within new budget for this year anyway. It gives us some hope that maybe DECC do have a reasonable handle on the figures and potentially could be able to find some extra envelope of the spending kind for FITs in the coming years.

Comparison of Previous and New FIT & ROC's Budget

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

The Total Feed In Tariff budget for 2012-13 is currently set at £161 million, so with £270.5 million of payments already due for just the solar PV systems installed up to this point the Feed In Tariff scheme looks set to be £109.5 million over budget in 2012-13 based on the current installed capacity alone.

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.