RenewableUK Warns Against New Wind Power Feed in Tariff

The large energy companies that dominate the wind power market now have a lot to fear from the new feed in tariff that was just recently introduced. This feed in tariff deals with domestic rooftop generation, and they are saying that this could be a “trojan horse” that would do nothing more than endanger the green energy sector.

RenewableUK, the former British Wind Energy Association, went on to warn that a debate around whether the feed in tariff could be expanded as a subsidy regime for larger schemes was extremely unhelpful. The major wind power groups benefit from subsidies handed out through a Renewable Obligation, but they fear that the government and the energy regulator, Ofgem, are looking for alternatives.

The head of economics at RenewableUK, Gordon Edge, said that this new energy policy is extremely unhelpful, because it sows uncertainty that a new government could come in and change the regime. If it is not handled well, this could delay the developments, and that in turn would mean 2020 carbon emissions reduction targets might not be met.

This feed in tariff allows domestic households with their own solar, wind and hydro systems of up to five megawatts to receive a guaranteed payment for all the electricity that they generate. The payments will be made by power suppliers such as EDF and British Gas with Ofgem administering it for the government.

This feed in tariff has worked very well in Germany for many years. However, the British government remained a little “stand offish” about the idea. Large energy suppliers first tried to persuade ministers not to introduce the scheme and then demanded that the tariff should only apply to projects up to 1MW.