Alasdair Grainger, the Head of the Feed-in Tariff at the Department of Energy and Cimate Change (DECC) has announced at Solar Power UK 2012 that businesses will still be able to chose between support under the feed-in tariff (FiT) or the renewable obligation (RO).
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had proposed excluding new small scale solar, anaerobic digestion, onshore wind and hydro power installations between 50kW and 5MW from the RO, as part of its review of support for renewable electricity.
However, following strong levels of feedback from undustry, DECC has decided to keep the option of both FiTs and RO open for anyone interested in investing in projects between 50kW and 5MW in size.
Announcing the backtrack, Barker said: “I am fully committed to spurring on growth in clean green energy generation across the nation and want to provide long term certainty for those who choose to invest.
“In light of feedback from industry on our intention to consult on the overlap between the RO and FITs we believe that now is not the time to make further changes to these schemes.
“Industry needs certainty, and keeping the current arrangements for small scale renewables as they are will help provide this assurance.”
Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association, Gaynor Hartnell, welcomed the move: “This decision is most definitely the right one, and will be welcomed by all those in the renewables industry. This is evidence of Government’s willingness to listen to sensible and constructive debate, and the kind of mature working relationship we need to have.”