The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will this morning lay before parliament its proposals for the future of the UK solar feed-in tariff (FiT). Our industry sources state that 21p will be locked in from March 3 if DECC loses the current court case and from December 12 if it wins.
Following Friends of the Earth’s calls to publish a ‘Plan B,’ Government has outlined its intentions for the FiT if it loses its appeal against the High Court’s ruling that its December 12 solar installation deadline was “unlawful”.
Today’s announcement is expected to place some much-needed certainty back into the industry.
The document, which is expected to be publically revealed this afternoon, is said to outline DECC’s plan to confirm the 21p rate for 4kW systems from December 12 to March 31 if the case is won – sticking to its proposals outlined in Phase 1 of the consultation process. If the case is lost however, DECC states its intention to initiate 21p from March 3 – which is exactly 40 days from today – until March 31.
Rates post April 1 are currently unclear, yet the annual degression rates for the next four years – until the end of the current spending envelope, will be outlined in Phase 2 of the feed-in tariff consultation, which is expected to be published by January 31.
However, if DECC does decide to cut the tariffs again after April 1 it will have to go through another parliamentary procedure, meaning any further reductions can not take place until the summer.
DECC is expected to publish confirmation of this news later today.