31 October 2011
  The government has announced a proposal to make large cuts to the subsidies available for those installing solar photovoltaic (PV) installations up to 250kW.
The proposals outlined in the government's new report will effectively halve the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) payments available, with some reductions being as high as 56 %.
These proposals follow on from last week's announcement that FiTs will now be linked to the government's 'Green Deal', meaning that, from 1st April 2012, energy efficiency standards will have to be met before an application for FiT payments will be considered.
Any installations which have already been commissioned can still apply to receive FiT payments at the current rates - providing applications are made by the proposed deadline of 12th December 2011.
For those who are unable to meet this deadline and make an application for FiT payments between 12th December 2011 deadline and 1st April 2012, the government is proposing that they will receive payments at the current rate until 1st April 2012, when they will then be transferred onto the lower proposed rates.
Jon Swain from Farm Energy said:
“If you have already placed an order and have got all the formalities such as grid connection and planning permission in place, we would urge you to talk to your installer, as there may be a very good chance you can be up and running by the deadline.
"Anyone who is not as far down the line as this would be best advised to wait until after the deadline has passed. There is a very good chance that the cost of solar panels will fall dramatically and it could be quite soon that the return on investment for solar PV is once again attractive.”
The full consultation document is available to view on the DECC website.
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