In a bizarre move by DECC last night, Greg Barker, Minister for Climate Change tweeted “Having listened carefully to industry, we are looking at scope for pushing back a little the next proposed reduction in the #solar tariffs” he then followed that up this morning with another tweet “we are listening carefully to industry & full details of new much improved FITs regime will be published v shortly”

So what does it mean?

In simple terms DECC should have announced the details of the originally proposed cut to the Feed-In Tariff by Monday of this week in order to meet the regulatory timescales, they didn’t.  That means that the earliest any change to the Feed-In Tariff could be brought in is mid-July. In practice one of two things will happen, either it will simply be put back month, or more likely, they will keep it as it is and then introduce a slightly lower cut than planned in October, so missing out completely this interim cut.

i.e – You have another month to get your business approval to get the Solar PV installed, or maybe even another 3 months.

So what should you do NOW?

Simple get on with it, if you had plans for just one installation – do it NOW, we are already seeing pressures on some materials supplies as other parts of Europe also see FIT changes at the same time.  If you had been considering multiple schemes, get the finance put in place, and get the DNO applications in!

The Sweet Spot!

Right now, the way the Feed-In Tariff is structured, the best returns are for systems of 10kWp, 50kWp and 250kWp, that will change with the next review of FITs so don’t delay. To find out if you have premises suitable for installing a Solar PV system, it’s potential size and ROI, just give us a call on 01386 871490, and we’ll be able to quickly assess the potential for you with no obligation. – Speak Soon.