The U.K. renewable energy industry has been up in arms – again – recently following the government’s July announcement that it was considering ending export tariffs for solar.
However, good news came today in the form of comments from Energy Minister Claire Perry, which were made in the House of Commons.
During the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee Oral Questions, Perry is quoted as saying, “I do completely agree that solar power should not be provided to the grid for free and that’s why I’ll shortly be announcing the next steps for small scale renewables.”
According to a statement issued from the U.K. Solar Trade Association (STA), she also said, “It would be wrong to have power provided to the grid for free,“ and, “People who have gone through the installation process should not be essentially captive takers should someone want to buy their energy and I’m looking forward to announcing some further deliberations on this shortly.”
Celebrating the news, STA chief executive, Chris Hewett said, “We are delighted that Clare Perry has now stated clearly that future small solar generators should receive payment for their exported electricity … As ever the devil is in the detail, so we now need to see the proposals and make sure they are in place from April 2019, but this is a good day for solar installers and prospective rooftop solar owners.”
James Court, Policy and External Affairs Director at the Renewable Energy Association also rejoiced, stating, “It is hugely welcome that the Energy Minister has acknowledged the united calls from across industry and parliament that no-one should be expected to give away electricity for free.
“The feed-in tariff has been a stand out success, and has led to huge cost reductions. Cancelling the export tariff though would be a significant blow, for industry, for consumers, and for the UK if we are to meet our climate commitments.”
During a consultation on the country's FIT scheme in July, the BEIS recommended, in addition to ending the generation tariffs for solar on March 31, 2019, removing export tariffs – meaning homeowners would not be paid for the electricity they supply to the grid. The industry, which was naturally against the idea, had until September 13 to respond.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.