Home • News • Boost for Businesses Installing Green Technologies
Under the proposals there are three key elements that will benefit
business:
Following the installation of small-scale (generally under 5MW)
renewable energy technologies, the business will benefit from the ‘free’
electricity generated and used on site. In addition, the government
will pay a fixed generation tariff for every KWh generated and an
additional guaranteed payment for every KWh exported to the grid in the
form of an export tariff.
The eligible technologies for the tariff will be Solar PV, Wind, Hydro, Anaerobic Digestion, Biomass and Combined Heat and Power (CHP). Installations benefiting from the tariff must have an import /export meter fitted. ‘Off grid’ applications will also be eligible however, details of how this will work have not been clarified as yet. Incentives for renewable heat technologies such as Solar Thermal and heat pumps are due to be introduced in 2011.
The government believes that the feed in tariffs will provide enough incentive for businesses to support the installation’s upfront costs. One key mechanism for this is the ability to assign the rights of the tariff payments to another organisation to help with financing the capital costs of the installation, for example a company or a Local Authority.
Tariffs will be reduced annually for new projects to take into account the expected decreases in technology costs. However, this will not apply to biomass or hydro schemes generating electricity.
The scheme runs alongside the existing Renewable Obligation scheme for businesses which generate in excess of 5MW of their own energy. The Renewables Obligation requires power suppliers to derive a specified proportion of the electricity they supply to their customers from renewables. This year the figure is 10.4% which will gradually rise to 15.4% by 2015. Eligible renewable generators receive Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) for each MWh of electricity generated. These certificates can then be sold to suppliers in order to fulfil their Renewables Obligation.
For more information, please contact Jim Porter on 01422 316661
