Government cuts threaten renewable projects

Up to 90 per cent of the energy project developers say that cuts to the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) would threaten their plans, with 67 per cent of 80 companies surveyed asserting that their projects would be completely at risk.

The report, from Quantum Strategy and Technology for Community Energy England, found that 55 groups had schemes to build small-scale solar, wind and hydro developments, whilst also claiming that future renewable proposals totalling £242m are also in danger of being lost to the FIT cuts.

Emma Bridge, Community Energy England Chief Executive, believes the government needs to support community projects in the short-term if they are to deliver decarbonisation and economic benefits.

“Community energy is about far more than the generation of renewable energy. It reduces energy bills, provides energy efficiency advice, develops skills, and generates revenue in the local economy; the list of social, economic and environmental benefits goes on,” she said.

“To continue to do this, at least in the short-term, we need support from schemes such as the Feed-in Tariffs. Community energy delivers value for money and this value will increase as the sector matures. The proposed changes to FITs will seriously damage the community energy sector.”

According to the survey, £7.4m has been afforded to community projects by the FIT, benefitting just under half the companies, however another £50m has been gained in private investment, along with a further £45m in revenue for local communities.

Dave Prescott, director at New Leaf Solar, which has raised more than £80,000 to put solar panels on a landfill site near Hereford, says it is very hard to see how the cuts can be justified.

“The rest of the world is going in a different direction. Especially in our case where you can’t use the land for anything else; you can’t grow food on it, you can’t build houses on it; it’s just sitting there doing nothing,” he commented.

“It’s deeply, deeply frustrating and it feels like a real failure of any sort of vision.”