First Hand Experience of Community Schemes Under Threat
Solar PV offers an amazing opportunity for communities to set up their own renewable power companies because it is relatively easy to implement. I have had first hand experience of setting up a community scheme which would not be possible under the new reduced FITs regime.
In Lewes, East Sussex, the energy services company Ovesco has teamed up with Harveys, the local brewery, to install the country's first community-owned solar power station on the roof of Harveys' warehouse.
Installed by Southern Solar, the 544 solar PV panels will generate 98 kilowatts peak, an estimated 92,000 kilowatt hours per year. The installation will be completed by August 1st this year, all the power generated will qualify for the top rate feed-in tariff of 34p per kilowatt hour, ensuring returns to investors of 4% per annum over the 25 years of the scheme.
Community schemes like this are now under threat – following two blows that have recently emerged since the scheme was first planned: Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has decided to cut the tariff above 50 kilowatts to 19p as of August 1st, and George Osborne has decided to remove EIS tax relief from FIT businesses.
Lewes Football Club has already expressed interest in hosting a PV array and its south-facing roof is scheduled to be Ovesco's next site. Other sites are being considered but we will now have to look at installations below 50kW to be eligible for a Feed In Tariff that is workable with a return for the people who have invested from the Community.
Ovesco's long-term plan is to make Lewes District self- sufficient in renewable energy by 2030, but the general uncertainty coupled with changes to policy make this grand vision ever more challenging.
Ernst & Young Solar PV Report on 50kW Outlines Potential for Solar
The cost of subsidising the UK solar industry is low. According to The UK Solar PV Industry Outlook Report on 50kW to 5 MW market, by independent consultants, Ernst & Young, non-domestic solar could thrive in the UK without subsidy from 2017. With FIT subsidies for solar over 50kW set to be slashed from August large scale solar is not commercially viable leaving much of the industry facing collapse.
The E&Y report underlines the potential for solar PV to increase competition in the UK electricity market and to deliver subsidy-free power to millions of users shortly after this Parliament. Instead the Coalition Government has put the UK industry at a serious international
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competitive disadvantage and made solar more costly than it needs to be in the UK - without first having even quantified the benefits.
With a kick-start the UK can create a mature PV industry, and bring down the costs of distribution and installation with dramatic effects. Investing in solar today is an investment in the subsidy-free energy revolution we so badly need and which solar can deliver well before the end of the decade.
A Solar Revolution Increases Competition and Helps Democratise Energy in UK
We can have a solar revolution for a fraction of the cost currently being spent on other energy generation technologies, with the added benefits of energy security and new green jobs. Energy and climate change are the two issues that will dominate the next century. We need solutions that can help us address both issues at once, whilst allowing our communities to thrive.
Solar PV allows us to democratise energy and distribute access to energy more fairly. Currently energy supply and energy policy in the UK is dominated by a handful of huge companies. By encouraging people to use PV, we create hundreds and thousands of small providers. You and your roof become a power station and together we begin to break away from our dependence on fossil fuels.
In reviewing technologies available to help us meet carbon reduction targets in the UK, the Government is failing to recognise solar as the viable, safe and practical option that it so obviously is. We are calling on the government to enable everyone to benefit from secure, clean energy projects of all sizes – on our homes, on our businesses, our industries and in our communities. Solar really is the future – and now we just need the policy makers to realise it.
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