Solar companies to sue government

23 Jan 2013: Guardian article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/23/solar-companies-feed-in-tariff-cuts
17 companies suing the British government for £140million. 2012 has been a bad year for the solar industry, not just because of the endless rainfall, but because Osborne cut away most of the incentive provided by the Feed in Tariff - causing immense problems for the Renewables industry which had geared up to meet the demand.

Act urgently if you want the PV tariff

15 July 2012: With two weeks to go before the end of the month, you would be very lucky to get one quoted, ordered, installed and registered. It is still possible, some installers can move very quickly, although they are likely to have full order books during July (and what after that?). The government really have brought great instability to the industry with Stop-Go policies.
    Once you are on the bandwagon, you have years of the good tariff payments, so if you have the right sort of roof, hesitate no longer!
  Some reading below:
http://howwindturbineswork.com/is-solar-energy-something-you-should-consider/

Take action before 1st August!

Early June 2012: The public seem to believe that the government have ceased the Feed in Tariff - but this is very wrong! If you still have enough roof, it is worth doing, and the tariff continues. If you were smart enough to get your PV erected before December 2011, you are still on the high rate.
     The present day reduced rate of 21p is such that it is still worth doing if you can get near to 4 kW worth erected.  Don't delay!
    After August 1st of this year, the FIT will reduce further to 16p, but you will then need to make sure your house is insulated to level D on the 'Energy Performance Certificate' scheme. This is worth doing, even though it seems illogical to use this condition as a brake on the installation of PV. It's about as sensible as requiring you to own a dog, or could be as expensive as requiring you to change your car to a more efficient new one.
    If you have cavity fill and some double glazing you should be able to reach an EPC of level D. There are so many parameters, such as the size and age of the building, the location in a conservation area, the complexity of the roof shape. If you cannot reach level D of the EPC, then you will only get 7.1 p, plus a small amount for sale, and the saving from using your own power.
   One information page that is worth keeping an eye on is the one that Good Energy publish.
  This is http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/feedintariff/fit-payments/new-rates
  I hope they will keep this same link page for a good long time, and update the information on it.
  As there is a lead time for ordering, scaffolding, organising the crew, do act quickly if you are eligible, as the installation has to be completely in and registered for the tariff before 1st August.

Gedling press ahead with Solar

15 March 2012: It is very gladdening to see that Gedling Borough Council had the courage to press on with their plan for solar PV installations. Rushcliffe Solar did a report for Gedling BC last summer (2011), and the council agreed to go ahead with a £430,000 investment.
  As we all know, and regret, the Coalition government changed the tariff in November, and had two cut-off dates in December 2011 and March 2012, both of which have passed.
   Gedling BC have managed to get £90,000 of their proposed investment installed in time for the March 2012 deadline. See the report in the Nottingham Post. 

1000 megawatt milestone achieved

26 Feb 2012: Here's a link to a Guardian report that the growth of solar panel installations in the UK has pass the 1000MW mark last week. This has been due to the 'explosive' growth of the rate of installation since the Feed in Tariff was announced in 2009. This is 41 times the amount of PV panels previously installed. I call that a success.

    Looking at it from the higher plane, it should not be about Tariff, which is a short term incentive - but the tariff has been miraculously successful. As a species we are motivated by economic forces.
    It should be about widespread generation of totally Clean Energy with zero infrastructure cost (we provide the roof and pay for the installation), and zero wholesale fuel purchase cost (the Sun), and zero running cost (apart from the FIT which is cheaper than the costs of salaries and maintenance of a power station).
   A good economic justification for the tariff is that energy delivered to houses from distant power stations is only about 1/3 of that generated at source, whereas the energy we supply to our neighbours is 1/1 - 3 times as efficient!

There is still uncertainty in the industry about the status of the FiT, although there is no worry about the 21p tariff - the confusion is about the 43p one. If you have a decent size of roof with good orientation, it is still an excellent investment at the 21p rate.
   It is most unfortunate that at the same time as this confusion is occurring, there is also much discontent in the Wind industry. Although the government is nominally backing it, the confusion in the PV industry and the damage caused by the 100 tory MPs letter has caused the big players in the Wind industry to freeze some projects which would have created thousands of jobs. Whatever you think of wind towers in the landscape, there is still an overwhelming need for electricity in our modern life. The MPs think that electricity flows from a socket, not being aware that it has to be generated somewhere. They would be woken up to reality if there were more brown-outs. In the high winds of last autumn, a nuclear power station in Scotland was out of action for more than 2 days, so it isn't just windmills that have problems sometime.
   The government has a target of 22mW installation by the end of the decade, but their tampering with the FiT and their linking with EPCs has made this target near impossible unless a future government support the FiT more earnestly. Germany has 25MW already.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/23/feed-in-tariff-solar-breakthrough?intcmp=122

Update from DECC and EST on the FIT

14 Feb 2012: Oh dear, so many acronyms!! But the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change), have lost Chris Huhne, but at least they have made their minds up over the Feed in Tariff.

  Heres a page on the Energy Saving Trust that summarises and explains the updates. The less digestible reading from the DECC is here. It is still worth doing PV, and a very good investment, but you should plan on the expectation of the 21p rate, and the 'better than very good' 43pence rate may be short lived unless you installed before December 12th of last year.

This EPC would require some work to improve it
but I gather that the proposed PV is part of the
calculation, so this 'F' rated house could be level 'C' with
added Insulation and the Photovoltaic.

     The good news is that the link to Insulation is less severe, now that they have settled on an insulation level of 'D'. The previous idea that it should be based on an Energy Performance rating for the house of 'C' was enough to kill the scheme altogether - it is estimated that only 9% of the country's houses would be eligible, and if ten percent of those house holders decided on PV, that would be less than one percent - that would make the UK impossible to catch up with Germany on renewables, would end the solar industry, continue our high carbon emissions, and guaranteed the future of only one industry, the giant nuclear power stations of the big generators.
  Insulation is incredibly important, but it's completely wrong to force them to be linked. They are both important but different.

Update on the FIT scheme

20 Jan 2012: Good Energy have come out with a bulletin explaining some of the options, in a PlanA / Plan B style. The FIT scheme and the appeal are still awaiting judgement.
http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/what-we-are-doing/good-energy-republic/2012/01/19/fit-update-government-acts-to-quell-uncertainty-around-the-feed-in-tariff
There is still uncertainty. Let's get this right, it is still worth doing, even with the new tariff if you have a large roof. But the uncertainty from DECC and the Govt is causing the industry to stop in its tracks. The proposal to link the tariff to households who must first raise their house to a level 'C' EPC of energy efficiency will stop many perfectly good roofs from being converted to electricity generating. A decentralised supply of clean energy is a powerful requirement - even if it is fitted to uninsulated barns, garages, or mounted on racks in the garden. Insulation, through schemes such as the Green Deal and other incentives is important, but it is wrong to make one dependent on the other, and it only favours the very well off.

Good Energy’s Ed Gill wrote recently,

"Real progress would be for the government to set out a long term future for FIT that recognises that it’s the best vehicle we have for delivering the decentralised energy market we need. This has to include a new structure that takes into account the popularity of a scheme that allows people, households and businesses to have greater control of their energy bills. It has to avoid introducing emergency consultations and measures like the proposed energy efficiency standard."

As I (DNC) wrote earlier, If the government said that 'you cannot insulate a building until it has PV', it would be demonstrably crazy. So it is equally crazy to say that 'you cannot have PV until you have insulated the building'. Each are important, but some architectural conditions are too complex to meet either of those statements. Society needs clean energy, whatever it is mounted on.

43pence FIT might return

12th Jan 2012: Rumours abound that the 43pence FIT payment rate may return this month, or even this week. This may only extend the period for people to instal (at this high FIT rate) to the end of March 2012. But that would be better than the artificially caused frantic rush in November and Dec 2011.
See Which Report 13 Jan.

13 Jan 2012 Evening Postscript:
Email from DECC, 1728 13th Jan 2012:
 Statement by DECC spokesperson on FITs case 13 January 2012 
"The Court of Appeal has not yet decided whether to give permission for an appeal or made a judgement on the FITs case. The Court will wrap up the decision on permission for an appeal and a possible judgement if an appeal is allowed in the next few weeks. Once the outcome is known we will consider our options and make an announcement on the way forward to provide clarity to consumers and industry."
At the time of writing, the DECC website is unavailable, but when it is, it should be: http://www.decc.gov.uk/

High Court ruling on FIT changes

24 Dec 2011: It seems that the High Court found that the government were wrongful in pressing ahead with major changes to the Feed in Tariff without considering that the consultation process was not completed, and that the deadlines given have caused untold chaos in the solar installation industry.... and we should not forget some of the inevitable job losses or company closures.

[See the Guardian Report for details. ]

Most people assume that Cameron and Osborne (who seems from his actions and saying to have little regard for the 'Green' revolution) will just carry on regardless of the Court ruling, or of the effects on the Solar industry and customers. 

Why link to Insulation?

When this was first mooted, it was proposed that the higher tariff should apply to houses which meet an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of level "C". Although this sounds at first sight like a good incentive, it reveals, at closer inspection to be just another form of discouragement, and favouring the well off house owner.

   Energy Generation is a different matter from Energy Conservation, and both are excellent, but there is No Reason for them to be so tightly linked, or for one to exclude the other. Should we also make a law that "Only houses with PV panels should be Insulated"? Of course not. That demonstrates the absurdity of the current proposal that "Only houses with Insulation should have PV panels". There are other ways to incentivise insulation, and these are being done.

  Society needs Energy, so why should we not encourage panels to be fixed on garages, barns and old houses that are not easy to insulate? In the same way, there are many buildings than can and should be insulated, but because of chimneys, dormers, trees or hips, they cannot be adapted for photovoltaic. 

    It can cost more to insulate a house up to level C than to fix solar panels. This new requirement becomes a charter favouring the rich or the owner occupier, because it requires an expensive operation on the house first, and perhaps a season's delay. 

   What does it do for social housing (especially of older dwellings)? A quick one or two day installation of panels can reduce future fuel poverty for a whole street, but a programme of insulation of a whole street would mean a complex and expensive process of decanting tenants etc. with funds that the local authorities or housing associations do not have.

Tariff for early adopters

2nd November 2011: I was asked recently if there might be changes for people who adopted PV prior to July 2009. It really has been very unfair that they were not included in the FIT, albeit at half or third rate. They seem to have been forced to accept a share of the tiny 3.1pence/unit rate, despite having installed at a time when PV was twice the cost it is now. Well. there is a scheme, although it is not as good as the FIT, it is better than nothing.
  My electricity utility, Good Energy, have a reasonable deal for such people. Prior to the FIT they were offering me 15p/unit, so I wrote to them to ask if they had anything similar for early adopters of PV.

Click to view the details of the
review of the FIT 2nd Nov 2011

  One of the Home Generation team replied to me: "Prior to the FIT we did run our own HomeGen scheme which offered a higher payment for installations, however this is now reduced to 9.4p/kWh for every unit generated and a 3.1p/kWh for 50% which is deemed exported. This is the payment existing generators who transferred from the RO scheme are now paid.
   In regards to the recent announcement - Good Energy is disappointed with the Government’s proposals on the FIT review. We believe that the cause of the problem lies with the artificial cap imposed on the scheme by the Treasury and will be working hard to improve the proposals put forward by the Department of Energy & Climate Change."

FIT change is not as bad as feared

1st Nov 2011: I did a Rushcliffe Solar estimation for one client and was pleased to find that the situation is not as bad as I feared. She does happen to have a perfect south facing unshaded roof, which helps. The new rules on FIT will discourage people who can only fit 6-10 panels, because of the higher cost per kilowatt. However, for a 16 panel installation of nearly 4 kW the payback is still quite good, and would be equivalent to about £1000/year - about 8-9%. The return from the tariff is still enough to justify installation. The assumed earnings from saving on your current bill, and the income from direct sale to the grid assume a larger proportion of the calculation - the 3.1pence per unit being worth £50.

People will be more choosy (not doing a roof unless it has good orientation), and they will be taking the long view - that over the years, the costs of energy for everyone else will rise and their virtual income from the savings will increase proportionately. There will be an increasing tendency to adapt lifestyle, like baking cakes or running the washing machine at midday.

     Under the 43pence rule, the payback was getting up into the teens, like 14-16% which must be far more than the original creators of the FIT intended - caused mainly by the much reduced cost of panels.
See Full details of the review at Good Energy's website.

Decision on FIT

31 Oct 2011: Well the announcement on FIT has been made and the details are on the Energy Saving Trust website.
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Financial-incentives/UK-Government-proposed-changes-to-solar-PV-Feed-in-Tariffs

And the official page from DECC:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/gb_fits/gb_fits.aspx
This is going to be a tough decision for some. If you have determined to go ahead, you will have to consider the revised payback and balance that with your altruistic desires to 'do something good for the environment', or perhaps recognition that 5% return is still as good as the best deposit or Building Society accounts currently available. There is also reasonable evidence that having a house with good energy performance will have added resale value.
   If you have decided to go ahead and now wish to reverse that decision, there is the concept of the 'cooling off period' and some of you may be able to back out, depending on when you decided and how much you are out by.

Naturally, R-S hopes you will continue, after recalculating a more rational but very slow rate of return. Consider the position of those who installed prior to July 2009 who have never earned anything, and are only getting 3.1p per unit. I propose that the government could regain some lost friends if it balanced this reduction of the FIT for new installations by allowing Pre-2009 householder to have the 21p/unit.

Changes to FIT

30 Oct 2011: DNC writes: Congratulations to all who had the courage to go ahead and install PV during the last 2 years. If you are on the bandwagon, your investment is reasonably safe (although government still has the right to decide how index linking goes). Those who have not installed have to go ahead quick, as the Feed in Tariff changes expected for April 2012 may occur earlier, perhaps in December 2011.
If you have a system installed, but haven't yet registered it for FIT, do so very quickly, because there is a dealing coming up.
    The Guardian got this scoop off the Energy Saving Trust website, shortly before it disappeared again from the EST website. But the details were mostly confirmed by Greg Barker in the morning news of 29th Oct. The DECC website will show the details from Monday 31st Oct onwards.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2011/oct/28/feed-in-tariffs-solarpower

     I don't altogether disagree with the policy. Degression was always going to be built in, but it needs to degress faster, due to the fall in the cost of installations. The original assumption was that Energy prices are only ever going to go up, and this has been true. The next assumption is that increasing world demand would balance with falling manufacturing cost keeping installation prices stable - this assumption was wrong, because costs of installations have almost halved in a couple of years due to vastly ramped up Chinese manufacturing, and competition in the installation industry. But most people will find the new rate is a serious discouragement, even if they are well intended to do something for clean energy and safer climate - 43p reducing to 21p will reduce payback to 5-6% (16-20 years), and the resulting cutback in installations will not bring prices down as fast as they have fallen since 2009.

   My 4kW installation was over £19K a mere two years ago, and now 4kW is reliably only about £11k, and some installers can beat even that. When I started doing Rushcliffe Solar estimations, we were getting paybacks of 8%-10%, and now prices have fallen so much that it's 12%-16% - this is too high a return, causing people to make rushed decisions for the wrong motives. The minister said that people should also consider the other long term things like improving house insulation and glazing, before rushing to instal electrical generation on inefficient buildings.

   Ironically, this decision is going to push PV prices up, as there are increasingly frantic order books, and shoppers can no longer shop around much - they just have to select whoever can fit them in before the new year. Companies who have moved into PV may be considering shifting out of it again. It is a blow for the nascent industry, to be sure.
See also:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2120568/feed-tariff-cuts-threaten-kill-solar-pv
http://www.clickgreen.org.uk/news/national-news/122739-consumers-and-industry-react-with-fury-to-leaked-feed-in-tariff-cut-plans.html

Panels are safe

26 Oct 2011: DNC writes: Some people often ask me, what happens if my panels get stolen, eg off a flat roof?
    I was recently thinking about selling on my PV roof and fitting higher efficiency panels (with liquid cooling), when David Hill of Carbon Legacy pointed out something important, which I recognise as a very good anti theft rule.
   When you have a PV roof fitted, the serial numbers of the panels are registered with OfGem, and that set of numbers is what you use for your Feed in Tariff payments. If those panels turn up elsewhere and someone tries to register them again, they will be flagged up, thus identifying where they got to, and from that, who stole them. The only possible use for second hand panels is for off grid installations. They could not be used for claiming on the Feed in Tariffs. The person buying them would know that they were dodgy and would want to know why.
   For special circumstances, such as you move house and the buyer of the old one doesn't want them, or you have had to replace your panels after a number of years, you would have to make a special case to OfGem to re-register them and re-register at the new location, by the original owner or the executor of the original owner.
   I am quite encouraged by this. It means that if you go on holiday, you feel more confident that your panels are safe, and I am sure that if there are such things as 'panel thieves', they have found this out too. There is more to be made by draining tanks of oil etc. 

Support for the Feed in Tariff

30 Sept '10: DNC writes: It's unfortunate that the Coalition government, having promised to be "Greener than Gordon Brown's government" have allowed rumours to grow and destabilize our confidence in the Feed in Tariffs.

If you are an early adopter, and installed PV before July 2009, they will not retro-engineer the FiT, so the best deal going seems to be with Good Energy. GE will continue to pay microgenerators on its HomeGen scheme who had their systems installed before 1st February 2010, and aren't eligible for the higher FiT rate. This amounts to15p per unit generated until April 2011, 5 times the amount that other utilities will pay. I don't know if this applies to you if you join them now, because initially, it seems to be a loyalty payment for those who have been with GE for a while. For my system they kept their word and sent me payment at 15p a unit for the period Oct 2009 to April 2010.

Please join the http://wesupportsolar.net/ website group and send the emails to Chris Huhne and others, to make sure that there is no regressing on the Feed in Tariffs. To me, there is a fair case for reviewing the original FIT idea on other systems such as Biomass and Heat Pumps, as it was hard to quantify the income and earnings. With PV, there is an OfGem meter, and the amounts generated and the amounts imported through the house meter are completely clear, and are very difficult to falsify, so there should be no altering of this scheme. Flexibility is built into the existing scheme by their ability to tweak todays's figure of 41.3p, so it would be better to let that scheme continue. Home generators are, collectively, reducing the need for power stations to be burning Columbian coal or imported oil or gas, so are good for the country as a whole, making use more energy independent.

Installations in Rushcliffe Borough

6 Aug: The Energy Saving Trust have kindly sent me a statistic from the Central Feed in Tariff Register.

Between 1st April and 6th August of 2010, there have been some installations in the Rushcliffe area.

Apparently there have been 22 domestic installations, totalling 53 kilowatts. There have been no installations on commercial or other building types. That is an average of 2.4 kilowatts per installation.

Hmmm.... I hope that the number will look better by December 31, 2010, and partially aided by our efforts.

What about getting it done for free?

6 Aug: There's a lot of hype about this 'Roof leasing' / 'Free Installation', whatever you want to call it.... There was a feature on Radio 2 on Thursday 5 Aug on Lisa Tarbuck's Drivetime programme. It was completely misleading, unfortunately, because the guest was advertising as if it was the only service available, and was not (unlike other BBC coverage) accompanied by another speaker who could cast a different light on it. Lisa did not have the knowledge to ask him about how much better it would work for people who pay for it themselves, and she believed everything he said as if there was no alternative.

Actually the Feed in Tariff was designed to be a benefit for building owners and householders to participate directly, as an incentive to start up solar power in the UK. This sudden emergence of these roof leasing companies is a form of commercial exploitation that could lead to changes in the rules on Feed in Tariff. Yes! it will generate more power for the Grid, but Sorry! the tariff rate is over-high for commercial scale power generation.

It's a very good deal for the companies, as they continue to operate and own the panels for 25 years and earn ALL the income from them - £15k over 25 years becomes about 50-60k over 25 years depending on future energy prices. They don't even pay you rent for your roof, all they offer that you will enjoy some free electricity during the sunny season - as he said, this benefit could be equivalent to 40% of your usage over the year - perhaps £200-£250 a year in estimated savings, but no cash return.

If you own the panels yourself, you would cover more than 100% of the usage, because the Feed in Tariff pays the equivalent of 3-4 times the cost of electricity, enough to pay your gas bill and more besides. You will get a decent cheque twice a year from your electricity supplier. And wouldn't you rather invest that 15k so that YOU get the 50-60k over the 25 years? There is no ISA or savings account that can match that! And your property could increase in value sufficiently to cover that initial cost, if after living in it for a few years, you market it as a house with zero energy running cost.

Roof Leasing will not add capital value to your house as you will have to reveal at the time of sale that you neither own the panels, nor do you get any income from them, and that you are required to permit 25yrs of access for maintenance to their staff. You add no value to the property, and if you do not, some purchasers would not want to take it on the liability.

Your roof has to be in perfect structural and weatherproof condition (good enough for the next 25 years) and must face as near south as possible and be big enough for 3-4 kW capacity, with no trees near enough to grow to overshadowing height within 25 yrs. Is this the case?

For some, there is a buyout clause, a bit like buying out an endowment policy or a mortgage, if you come into some money later, but as they set the price, you are stuck with what they offer. They may well want to sell at some stage, as there is a risk that the FiT might be adjusted later, to benefit building owners and not commercial companies - so they may be willing to offload the installation to you - this is an interesting risk factor for both of you. The company ISIS declare that they will not sell at all, but gift after 25 yrs. You would fully own the panels including any income from them when the 25 years is completed.

We don't want to sound negative. We quite like them because the more panels appearing on roofs, the less we shall need new nuclear power stations in future. The more your neighbours will be inspired to find out, and do it themselves, using the FiT.

If you want to be a home generator, but get it done for free and have the right size of roof, then do it - but it will not earn you a cent.

We will give you a couple of links below, but we have not approached these companies to be sponsor installers for Rushcliffe Solar - because while part of our mission is to see more Photovoltaic roofs in Rushcliffe, the other part is to tell you how much you can benefit from the Feed in Tariff.
AShadeGreener are based in Yorkshire
ISIS Solar are based in London and the south.

There is a very good discussion of the 'Solar for Free' idea in an article in the Guardian of 9 August. The summary of the article is saying that it's a better idea for you the householder to get the feedin tariff.

Another sunny Solstice!

21 June: Report from Peveril Solar house: It was nice that the last two solstices, Dec 21 and June 21 were both sunny days, so one could compare. In this diagram, the two Poisson curves are at the same time and power scales, and show the difference impressively. Other people might go and watch the Sun rising over Stonehenge or Glastonbury Tor.... But me? I check the PV meter and the SMA website. How sad is that! .... :)
   Because we have a high hill to the south, the winter sunrise is an hour later than on level ground, and the sunset an hour earlier. So there is daylight, but not sunlight, hence the tail in and sudden steep rise at the start of the December solstice. By March equinox, the hill has less effect. At this time of year in June, the roof is consistently outperforming all the predictions, and with the sun rising and setting in the north quadrants, the hill has no impact on the performance.
   We have had no payment from the Feed in Tariff yet, the first one can't be expected until October. If you have PV now, don't forget to register!

Loan Scheme for householders - perhaps....

The Guardian has a good article on a new Loan scheme for householders, based on Pay as you Earn from your Feed in Tariff. This is not zero interest, but is low interest, similar to Mortgage rates (which are cheaper than normal bank loans.) And you would still experience much reduced electricity bills, as I do now.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/06/solar-panels-pay-as-you-save
But before you go ahead, note that the article points out that the scheme will take time to go through, and would not complete until after the General Election.
The feed in tariff is agreed by all parties, so that is not affected.

Feed in Tariff replaces grants

Feb 2010: At the time of going to press, Rushcliffe Reports was correct in urging people to hurry to get PV panels installed to get both the Grant and the Tariff.
But shortly after, the government announced that the Feed in Tariff fully replaces the grant - with immediate effect.
    However, do not be disheartened. It is often the effect that after a subsidy is lifted, the market mechanisms adjust, suppliers become more competitive and the cost evens out. In likelihood, this is going to happen because the Feed in Tariff is bringing a rush of business enabling the industry to lower its prices and admit more companies who are competing.