News story

Reminder of changes to Feed-in Tariffs from 1 April

Press Ref: 2012/035 New FITs tariffs for solar installations up to 250kW for those with an eligibility date on or after 3 March 2012 Minimum…

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Press Ref: 2012/035

  • New FITs tariffs for solar installations up to 250kW for those with an eligibility date on or after 3 March 2012
  • Minimum energy efficiency requirement for properties installing solar panels to obtain the highest level of FIT payment
  • New solar PV multi installation tariff rate

DECC is introducing a range of changes to the FITs scheme to come into effect on 1 April 2012 following a consultation at the end of last year. The changes will help ensure that current tariff levels for solar PV are more closely matched to installation costs, and that solar PV is considered as part of a whole-house approach to saving energy and carbon.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said: “These changes will help improve the Feed-in Tariffs scheme, ensuring it is a scheme for the many and not for the few. I am currently looking at how it can be further improved to offer certainty for householders, communities and industry and would welcome thoughts on our proposals.

“I want to see a bright and vibrant future for small scale renewables in the UK and allow each of the technologies to reach their potential where they can get to a point where they can stand on their own two feet without the need for subsidy sooner rather than later.”

New tariffs for solar installations up to 250kW

A new tariff rate of 21p/kWh will take effect for domestic size solar panels with an eligibility date on or after 3 March this year. Other tariff reductions also apply for larger installations.

Band (kW) Generation tariff until 31 March 2012 (p/kWh) New generation tariff from 1 April 2012 (p/kWh) Multi-installation tariff from 1 April 2012 (p/kWh)

?4kW(new build) 37.8 21.0 16.8

?4kW (retrofit) 43.3 21.0 16.8

4-10kW 37.8 37.8 16.8 13.4

10-50kW 32.9 15.2 12.2

50-100kW 19 12.9 10.3

100-150kW 19 12.9 10.3

150-250kW 15 12.9 10.3

250kW-5MW 8.5 8.9 8.9

Stand alone 8.5 8.9 8.9

Minimum energy efficiency requirement for properties claiming FITs for solar PV

DECC has also put in place a minimum energy efficiency requirement for anyone wanting to install solar panels on their building and claim the full FIT rate. From 1 April properties will be required to produce an Energy Performance Certificate rating of ‘D’ or above to qualify for the full FIT rates. This is a change from the two options set out in the consultation, which were that the requirement should either be an EPC ‘C’ rating, or that all energy-saving measures should be installed that were cost-effective under the Green Deal. It is estimated that around half of all properties are already eligible for a ‘D’ rating.

The tariff levels for properties meeting the requirement are as set out in the above table. Where properties do not meet the requirement, they will receive 9p/kWh (apart from >250-5MW and stand-alone installations, which always receive 8.9p).

New solar multi installation tariff rate kicks in

New ‘multi installation’ tariff rates for PV set at 80% of the standard tariffs will also be introduced from 1 April for solar PV installations where a single or individual organisation is already receiving FITs for 25 or more other solar PV installations. This is designed to reflect the lower costs these installations experience through economies of scale. Based on responses received to the consultation, individuals or organisations with 25 or fewer installations will still be eligible for individual rate.

Government is currently consulting on a range of improvements to the FITs scheme. Proposals currently out for consultation look at reducing the tariffs for solar over time to reflect market trends and uptake and also consider changes to the tariff levels for the other small scale technologies supported under the scheme. Government is also consulting on the treatment of social housing and community schemes under FITs.

Notes for Editors

  1. Changes to the FITs tariffs from 1 April were set out in the government response to the 2011 consultation published on 9 February available here.
  2. Following the recent conclusion of legal action on the October 2011 FITs solar consultation, anyone who installed solar PV between 12th December 2011 and 2nd March 2012 will continue to get the current tariff rate for the 25 years of the scheme. For household scale solar installations this is set at 43.3p. SoS statement on the legal action can be found here:
  3. The consultation on solar degression is open until 3 April and can be found here:
  4. The consultation on administrative aspects of the scheme and other small scale technologies is open until 26 April and can be found here.
Published 30 March 2012