Firms urged to adopt renewable energy systems
BUSINESSES eager to adopt renewable energy systems are being advised to press ahead with their plans now that the Government has confirmed its commitment to green subsidies.
Worcestershire-based renewable energy firm Going Solar said companies needed to act quickly to take advantage of schemes such as the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs), which allow consumers to earn money for heat generated from solutions such as solar panels.
However, although Going Solar has broadly welcomed the Government’s announcement that the RHI will go ahead from June 2011 and FiTs will be maintained at their current level for the next two years, it believes there may yet be a sting in the tail to these decisions.
“I’m very pleased, on the whole, with the Government’s statements, especially the news that it has set aside £860m for the RHI scheme,” said Going Solar partner James Meynell.
“However, the details of exactly how much incentive will be allocated will not be known until the end of the year, which means more uncertainty for the industry. A certain amount of momentum in the uptake in renewable energy systems has already been lost since the Government delayed its announcement on the RHI subsidy earlier this year.”
While the Feed-in Tariffs remain unaltered until the next review in 2012, there was still cause for concern as the Government had reserved the right to re-examine the scheme if there was a rush by consumers to install green energy systems between now and then, he added.
“Furthermore, the Government has indicated that in its next review, this subsidy could be cut by 10% in subsequent years. This could take the form of both a ‘trigger point’ where the incentives fall automatically if a certain number of solar PV panels and other forms of microgeneration are installed, and a potential cut in the incentives paid for one or more of the four technologies covered by this scheme,” he said.
Going Solar, based in Neen Sollars, specialises in providing large solar PV systems as well as across-the-board renewable energy solutions for medium-to-large businesses and organisations.
