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FEED-IN TARIFFS - THE HIGHLIGHTS
Please note: The Feed-In tariffs are NOT ratified as yet - they are subject to a Government White Paper. The lobysists are pushing for even more than the 36p / kWh for retro-fit Solar PV that is indicated in teh table ... it may be that the final figures that are ratified are in excess of those quoted here. Only time will tell !!
- Earn a regulated income from every kilowatt hour generated
- Tariff set by government - up to 36½p/kWhr based on type and size
- Plus 5p bonus for power exported
- Last for 20 or 25 years
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- All renewable electricity qualifies
- Household and business users
- Maximum size 5 megawatts (covers most commercial and consumer sites)
- Comes into force April 2010
- New systems installed now will qualify
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The Feed-in Tariffs are intended to support all renewable electricity generation sources used below 5MW. Non-renewable gas-powered combined heat and power (Micro-CHP) is also included and fuel cells could be in the future.
For reasons given in its July 2009 proposals, the government will initially be supporting:
- Anaerobic digestion
- Biomass power and combined heat and power
- Hydro-power
- Solar photovoltaics
- Wind power
Proposed tariff levels for each are shown in the third column below. For new systems installed after April 2011 the tariff levels will be adjusted based on the average 'degression rate' shown in the final column (see more here).
Tariffs last for 20 years for all technologies except for Solar PV where they will last for 25 years.
ELIGIBLE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROPOSED TARIFF LEVELS:
Technology |
Scale |
2010-11 Tariff p/kWh |
Annual change3 |
AD1 (electricity) |
<5MW |
9.0 |
0 |
AD1 (CHP1) |
<5MW |
11.5 |
0 |
Biomass |
<50kW |
9.0 |
0 |
Biomass |
50kW-5MW |
4.5 |
0 |
Biomass (CHP1) |
<5MW |
9.0 |
0 |
Hydro |
<10kW |
17.0 |
0 |
Hydro |
10–100kW |
12.0 |
0 |
Hydro |
100kW–1MW |
8.5 |
0 |
Hydro |
1-5MW |
4.5 |
0 |
Micro-CHP1 |
<50KW |
[T.B.A in Autumn] |
PV1 (New build2) |
<4kW |
31.0 |
- 7 % |
PV1 (Retrofit2) |
<4kW |
36.5 |
- 7 % |
PV1 |
4-10kW |
31.0 |
- 7 % |
PV1 |
10–100kW |
28.0 |
- 7 % |
PV1 |
100kW–5MW |
26.0 |
- 7 % |
PV1 (stand alone2) |
<5MW |
26.0 |
- 7 % |
Wind |
<1.5kW |
30.5 |
- 4 % |
Wind |
1.5–15kW |
23.0 |
- 3 % |
Wind |
15–50kW |
20.5 |
- 3 % |
Wind |
50–250kW |
18.0 |
0 |
Wind |
250–500kW |
16.0 |
0 |
Wind |
500kW–5MW |
4.5 |
0 |
Existing RO1 sites |
<50kW |
9.0 |
0 |
1 Abbreviations: AD=Anaerobic Digestion, PV=Photovoltaic (solar), CHP=Combined heat and power, RO=Renewables Obligation |
2 The consultation document doesn’t define these (but see below) |
3 The annual 'degression' see question near bottom of this page |
The tariffs for PV vary for different types of systems. Although these are not defined in the government's consultation document, we understand from the government that:
- 'New build' will apply to systems integrated into new buildings
- 'Retrofit' will apply to systems mounted to existing buildings
- 'Stand alone' relates to systems that are installed primarily to feed power into the grid, without much of the energy being used on-site
- The renewable energy sources expected to be most widely used for the tariffs are shown on the right.
Although the Energy Act defines other technologies, which could be eligible for tariffs, the government has not currently included them, saying:
- Other technologies (implicitly biofuel generation, fuel cells, wave and tidal energy) are not yet sufficiently widely used at the scale covered by the F I Tariffs.
- Landfill & sewage gas should only be supported by RO.
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