Scrapping payments for excess household solar energy 'risks derailing revolution'

Scrapping payments for excess solar energy from households and small organisations would risk “derailing” the UK’s renewable revolution, a campaign group has claimed.

Since introduction in 2010, the Feed-In Tariffs [Fit] scheme has supported 820,000 installations of solar power technology. The scheme ends next March, however, and an open letter from over 200 organisations has called on energy minister Claire Perry to “urgently” confirm the continuation of payments to small generators for excess energy sent to the grid.

Known as export tariffs, the payments ensure householders, small businesses, farmers, community groups and users of buildings such as schools and places of worship receive payments at a “fair market rate”.

The plea comes shortly after a survey by open letter signatory Client Earth, which reportedly found 62% of UK homes want to install solar generation, and 60% want battery storage.  

“Scrapping [Fit] with no form of replacement doesn’t just mean locking the public out of the renewables revolution, it risks derailing it altogether,” claimed Leo Murray, director of strategy at 10:10 Climate Action.

Academics, non-governmental organisations, youth groups, land owners, companies producing ‘smart’ technologies and more diverse organisations signed the open letter.

“The latest government proposals for solar power are creating shock waves well beyond the solar industry,” said Chris Hewett, chief executive of the Solar Trade Association, which published the letter.

“Nobody can fathom how government can contemplate leaving households and small organisations as the only generators left unpaid for the valuable power they put into the electricity network. We are asking the energy minister to act quickly and promise to maintain the export tariff, and to uphold the basic rights of a market.”

Stopping payments will harm public engagement in solar energy, said James Watson, chief executive of SolarPower Europe. Solar deployment is already at an eight-year low, the consortium said, with a 95% drop from 2015-18. The group blamed tax changes and a reduction in government support.

A spokesman for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) said the scheme generated enough energy for 2m homes last year, however, an increase of 34% on the previous year.

Professional Engineering asked if fair payments would continue, and if payment levels would change. Beis said existing users of the Fit scheme will continue to receive payments after 31 March – when it ends – but the response suggested that new installations would only receive accreditation if applications are made before the end date, potentially discouraging building owners from adding solar panels.