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Feed in Tariffs
Part of the Clean Energy Cashback scheme, Feed in Tariffs (FiTs) were unveiled by the government on 1 April 2010, to incentivise generating your own renewable electricity, in a bid to aid the global challenge of reducing carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. The scheme guarantees regular payments to homeowners, local authorities and businesses who generate their own electricity from renewable or low carbon sources such as solar PV, across the course of the 25 year scheme.
In addition to solar PV, the Feed in Tariff also covers the following technologies, up to an installation size of 5 megawatts:
- Wind turbine (building mounted or free standing)
- Hydroelectricity
- Anaerobic digestion
- Micro combined heat and power (micro CHP)
The FiT scheme guarantees benefits in three ways:
- Generation tariff – a set rate paid by the energy supplier for each unit (or kWh) of electricity you generate. The tariff rates for new installations are shown in the table below. Once you have registered for the scheme you will receive the rate shown below for 25 years.
|
Size of PV system |
Installations registered in FIT Year 1 (1/4/2010 - 31/3/2011) |
Installations registered in FIT Year 2 (1/4/2011 - 31/3/2012) |
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|
Tariff received until 31/3/2011 (p/kWh) |
Tariff received 1/4/2011 and 31/3/2012* (p/kWh) |
Tariff received until 31/3/2012* (p/kWh) |
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|
≤4 kW (new build) |
36.1 |
37.8 |
37.8 |
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|
≤4 kW (retrofit) |
41.3 |
43.3 |
43.3 |
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|
>4-10 kW |
36.1 |
37.8 |
37.8 |
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|
>10-100 kW |
31.4 |
32.9 |
32.9 |
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>100kW |
29.3 |
30.7 |
30.7 |
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|
Stand-alone system |
29.3 |
30.7 |
30.7 |
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*Adjusted by the 2010 Retail Price Index of 4.8%
However, following the government’s consultation, they propose to change the tariff levels by introducing new bands and setting the following tariffs to take effect from 1st August 2011.
|
PV System type |
System Size |
Generation tariff (p/kWh) |
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|
Retrofit & new build |
50kW-150kW |
19.0 |
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|
Retrofit & new build |
150kW-250kW |
15.0 |
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|
Retrofit & new build |
250kW-5MW |
8.5 |
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|
Stand-alone |
Up to 5MW |
8.5 |
- Export tariff - you will receive a further 3.1p/kWh from your energy supplier for each unit you export back to the electricity grid, when it isn’t used on site.
- Energy bill savings – you will be making savings on your electricity bills, because generating electricity to power your appliances means you don’t have to buy as much electricity from your energy supplier. The amount you save will vary depending how much of the electricity you use on site.
The generation and export prices will increase at RPI each year.
You will qualify for the full FiT payments if:
- Your system was installed between 15th July 2009 and 31st March 2010 and you transferred to FITs before 1st April; OR
- It is installed after 1st April 2010 using an MCS certificated product and installer.