Feed-in tariffs deliver thousands of renewables schemes In contrast to ongoing c ...

Feed-in tariffs deliver thousands of renewables schemes In contrast to ongoing cautious and gloomy economic forecasting in the national economy, the growth in microgeneration capacity has been 400% since the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) was launched in April last year. Solar PV has led the way with an increase of 900% and wind and hydro have doubled, according to new figures released by energy and environmental consultancy AEA. Driven by small-scale domestic installations, solar PV now makes up almost 75% of the capacity of renewable installations in the UK claiming the FiT. This trend looks set to continue, says AEA, along with growth from solar parks and social housing installations in advance of DECC’s next revision of tariff support levels, due in March 2012. DECC announced an early reduction of support levels for large-scale solar PV installations, which created a surge in large solar park connections to beat the August 2011 deadline to receive the original, higher tariffs. This will result in many tens of MWe capacity being registered in the coming months. Furthermore, a new Barclays fund of £100mn to help famers finance renewables projects should further grow large-scale installations, says AEA. Social housing providers are also taking advantage of the FIT scheme and are rolling out large-scale installations on the roofs of their housing stock, ensuring that low income households will also be able to benefit from future savings through the use of renewable electricity, adds AEA. Separate data published by Ofgem suggests that, up to 30 June this year, 45,000 renewable energy installations have been registered on the FiT scheme since its start, totalling 163 MW of generating capacity. Solar PV leads the way with 43,000 installations; followed by 1,500 wind schemes, 220 hydro schemes, 158 microCHP installations and five anaerobic digestion schemes. In the same period, FiT payments of just over £10mn were made to generators.