New Feed-in Tariffs announced
DECC have finally announced what should be the final values of the Feed-in tariffs, here:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn10_010/pn10_010.aspx
Overall this looks like very good news for our projects, with a few caveats. Most of the tariffs have gone up by 10% or so, with a few changes of ‘banding’ which may make a big difference to some of our projects. A few headlines for you:
- Hydro bands changed so the cut-off point is at 15kW, not at 10kW. Below this point tariff is up from 17p to 19.9p, above it tariff has jumped from 12p to 17.8p. This will have a major positive impact on schemes in Kington, Leintwardine, Ludlow, Neen Sollars. Above 100kW the rate is 11p (up from 8.5p) which is a boost for the proposed project in Shrewsbury.
- Wind bands have also changed. Some of the sites where we were needing to stick to 500kW machines under the old proposals could now be suitable for larger machines (which are easier to source and maintain) with a new band of 500kW-1.5MW at 9.4p. We campaigned for this during the consultation and it may well be a step change for single community turbines. For sites where 100-500kW machines are more suitable the FiTs are slightly improved to 18.8p (from 16 or 18p).
- The situation with AD is less clear. The 9p FiT has been retained but a new band has come in for sub-500kW generators (which would include all our schemes). Rates currently blank on the DECC site, hopefully they are offering more for smaller schemes as per other technologies
- PV rates have also gone up, which may open up the possibility of community-owned PV…Bewdley are investigating this at the moment.
At the same time the initial rates for the Renewable Heat Incentive consultation have been announced. These are only initial rates and if the FiT consultation is anything to go by they could change quite a bit. Still working through but the headlines are:
- Biomass. Rates of 9p up to 45kW, 6.5p above are proposed. This will help our projects in Woolhope and potentially also Bewdley.
- Biogas. A rate of 5.5p might apply to our schemes in Leominster and Cleobury
- There is also a propsoed rate for biogas injection directly into the gas grid, which might be possible in Leominster, although it is doubtful if the proposed rate of 4p/kWh would be enough to make it financially viable….need to get lobbying again!
