The long overdue Call for Evidence on the future policy framework for small and medium scale renewables has been published by The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
With all aspects of the Feed-In Tariff (FiT) due to close next March, the solar industry and millions of potential investors urgently require clarity on the policy framework going forwards.
The Call for Evidence has been published alongside the statutory FiT Review, which proposes an end to the existing treatment of surplus power from solar generators.
STA CEO, Chris Hewett, said: “Feed-In Tariffs have enabled around 800,000 households and 28,000 businesses to generate their own clean solar power to date, transforming the future of energy in the UK.
“This would simply not have happened without the FiT. The good news, as we look beyond FITs, is that solar is coming of age and while solar always makes great environmental sense it now makes economic sense for most investors without public subsidies given fair treatment by government. An average domestic solar system cost £12,000 in 2010. It is more like £5,000 today.
“The bad news is that the government has been crystal clear on what policy measures will stop – even very basic rights to fair export payments – but it is frighteningly vague on what comes next. There is real dismay that there is now a serious and needless policy gap between the end of FITs and the start of the new regime.
“We are, therefore, asking the government to work with us and with the industry as a matter of urgency to fill that gap and ensure a smooth transition next March.”