Article published in Northern, Midlands, Southern Housing - 1st December 2011
The solar industry is up in arms after the Government announced it wants to slash Feed-in-Tariffs for domestic solar installations, so is that it for the housing sector's sunny disposition?
The proposed cuts to the Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs) could kill the industry "stone dead", said one insider; another declared: "We will not go down without a fight."
Heady stuff, but the Government's decision to reduce FiTs on domestic PV installations by as much as half has ruffled rather more than feathers.
In October, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) proposed slashing the tariff paid on schemes of up to 4kW from 43.3 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh) to 21 pence per kWh from December 12th this year. It also proposed cutting the tariff payable to schemes between 4kW and 250kW. The justification was to prevent "boom and bust" in the solar industry and place it on a "steadier, clearer and sustainable growth path". But as far as its critics are concerned, DECC has effectively destroyed the industry in order to save it.
The implications might be "serious" for the solar industry but for social housing, the impact is "less devastating", according to Anthony Scott of carbon reduction consultancy Sustain. "This is because even though the funding model has changed, for social housing providers who are in it for the long haul, reducing energy costs still has high value", he said. "With energy prices sky rocketing, fuel poverty is a major issue, so reducing costs for tenants is of paramount importance. It can be difficult and expensive, however, to identify what is needed across the full range of housing stock. It is for this reason that we have been working with social housing providers and local authorities via our energy modelling and mapping service".
