Low Carbon Feed-In Tariff For The UK Explained (Help)
The new UK feed in tariff (FiT) which is applicable from April 1st 2010 is only applicable to renewable electricity, The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is covered briefly at the bottom of the page.
The UK Government have just recently released final details on the new FIT (Feed-In Tariff) scheme for low carbon energy produced via renewable energy technology. (Wind, Solar PV & Micro-Hydro are eligible)
The new FIT scheme comes into play on the 1st April 2010 and enables both businesses and home owners to be rewarded with above market payments for power generated with renewables. Up until now the payback time on renewable energy (Wind, Solar & Micro-Hydro) often outweighed the cost of supply and installation making the investment unattractive but now the new FiT scheme makes, in particular Solar PV, a lucrative investment. For example, a typical 2.5KW solar PV (Photovoltaic) roof mounted system with a end user cost of £12,500.00 could potentially reward the owner with £900.00 per year along with a reduction of £140.00 on their electricity bill.
(The above figures assume the installation is on an existing home / building and now a new build.)
Looking at the proposed figures this equates to an 8% annual return on a £12,500 Solar PV installation, by far the highest return you can get from the banks and building society's. Further more the FiT payments are tax free making power generation with renewables a sound investment. The FiT payments for Solar PV will be paid for 25 years per installation plus they are index linked so they will rise with inflation.
The new FiT scheme replaces the current ROC scheme from 1st April 2010.
A payment of £41.3p will be paid for each KWH produced weather the power is used by the producer or exported back onto the national grid, any surplus power that is exported back onto the national grid will receive a further 3p per KWH.
For new build homes with Solar PV on South facing roofs the tariff will be 36.1p per KWH.
With Solar PV installations the cost per KWH you receive reduce annually but once installed they remain fixed and will rise inline with inflation so it will be more beneficial to have Solar PV installed in 2010
Official UK Government DECC Press release
Tariff levels for different technologies listed below:
The tariff levels for the electricity
financial incentives (pence), calculated to offer between 5-8%
return on initial investment in the technology are:
Tariff levels for electricity financial incentives
| Technology | Scale | Tariff level for new installations in period (p/kWh) [NB tariffs will be inflated annually] | Tariff lifetime (years) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1: 1.04.10- 31.03.11 | Year 2: 1.04.11- 31.02.12 | Year 3: 1.04.12- 31.03.12 | |||
| Anaerobic digestion | ≤500kW | 11.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 20 |
| Anaerobic digestion | >500kW | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 20 |
| Hydro | ≤15 kW | 19.9 | 19.9 | 19.9 | 20 |
| Hydro | >15 - 100kW | 17.8 | 17.8 | 17.8 | 20 |
| Hydro | >100kW - 2MW | 11.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 20 |
| Hydro | >2MW - 5MW | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 20 |
| MicroCHP pilot* | ≤2 kW* | 10* | 10* | 10* | 10* |
| PV | ≤4 kW (new build) | 36.1 | 36.1 | 33.0 | 25 |
| PV | ≤4 kW (retrofit) | 41.3 | 41.3 | 37.8 | 25 |
| PV | >4-10kW | 36.1 | 36.1 | 33.0 | 25 |
| PV | >10 - 100kW | 31.4 | 31.4 | 28.7 | 25 |
| PV | >100kW - 5MW | 29.3 | 29.3 | 26.8 | 25 |
| PV | Standalone system | 29.3 | 29.3 | 26.8 | 25 |
| Wind | ≤1.5kW | 34.5 | 34.5 | 32.6 | 20 |
| Wind | >1.5 - 15kW | 26.7 | 26.7 | 25.5 | 20 |
| Wind | >15 - 100kW | 24.1 | 24.1 | 23.0 | 20 |
| Wind | >100 - 500kW | 18.8 | 18.8 | 18.8 | 20 |
| Wind | >500kW - 1.5MW | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 20 |
| Wind | >1.5MW - 5MW | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 20 |
| Existing microgenerators transferred from the RO | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | to 2027 | |
*NB This tariff is available only for 30,000 microCHP installations. A review will take place when 12,000 units have been installed.
Technology |
Scale |
Tariffs (pence/kWh |
Tariff lifetime (years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small installations | |||
| Solid biomass | Up to 45kW | 9 | 15 |
| Biodiesel | Up to 45kW | 6.5 | 15 |
| Biogas on-site combustion | Up to 45kW | 5.5 | 10 |
| Ground source heat pumps | Up to 45kW | 7 | 23 |
| Air source heat pumps | Up to 45kW | 7.5 | 18 |
| Solar thermal | Up to 20kW | 18 | 20 |
| Medium installations | |||
| Solid biomass | 45kW-500kW | 6.5 | 15 |
| Biogas on-site combustion | 45kW-200kW | 5.5 | 10 |
| Ground source heat pumps | 45kW-350kW | 5.5 | 20 |
| Air source heat pumps | 45kW-350kW | 2 | 20 |
| Solar thermal | 20kW-100kW | 17 | 20 |
| Large installations | |||
| Solid biomass | 500kW and above | 1.6 -2.5 | 15 |
| Ground source heat pumps | 350kW and above | 1.5 | 20 |
| Biomethane injection | All scales | 4 | 15 |