The government’s proposals to cut the feed-in tariff by up to 87% have resulted in “huge question marks” over housing associations’ drive to install solar on their rooftops, according to installer Solarplicity.
Cuts to the FiT, coupled with the removal of pre-accreditation which was rubber stamped last month, have created considerable uncertainty in the installation market and a number of local authorities have expressed doubt over whether or not previously announced plans to roll out solar installations will now go ahead.
Doncaster City Council announced plans to install solar on thousands of council-owned homes earlier this year, but provided the caveat that extensive cuts to the feed-in tariff could place the project in jeopardy.
Solarplicity said that there was now a “huge question mark” over whether or not housing associations would be willing to accept “clear, greener and more affordable” renewable energy initiatives.
The company claims to have plans to install more than 150,000 installations over the next two years including the allocation of 3,000 systems freely allocated to housing associations, which it said would equate to roughly £1.2 million worth of feed-in tariff revenue each year. But Solarplicity said the “dramatic cuts” would now leave housing associations “priced out of the renewable energy market”.
“Government strategy clearly outlines the need to reduce energy costs, and with electricity making up (on average) 50% of household bills, cutting the feed-in tariff vastly contradicts these aims,” the company said.
It also put forward a number of possible solutions which could trigger further investment from local housing authorities, including capital contributions for investors installing solar on housing association properties and a new band of feed-in tariff allocated especially for housing associations.