Feed-in Tariffs (FITs)

The Feed-in Tariffs scheme is currently under review, and a consultation was launched on 31 October about the tariffs for small-scale solar PV (250 kilowatts or less).

The Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) scheme was introduced on 1 April 2010, under powers in the Energy Act 2008.
Through the use of FITs, DECC hopes to encourage deployment of additional small-scale (less than 5MW) low-carbon electricity generation, particularly by organisations, businesses, communities and individuals that have not traditionally engaged in the electricity market.

This will allow many people to invest in small-scale low-carbon electricity, in return for a guaranteed payment from an electricity supplier of their choice for the electricity they generate and use as well as a guaranteed payment for unused surplus electricity they export back to the grid.

FITs work alongside the Renewables Obligation (RO) – which is currently the primary mechanism to support deployment of large-scale renewable electricity generation – and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which, when implemented, will support generation of heat from renewable sources at all scales.

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Which technologies are eligible for FITs?

1. Small-scale low-carbon electricity technologies eligible for FITs are:
2. wind
3. solar photovoltaics (PV)
4. hydro
5. anaerobic digestion
6. domestic scale microCHP (with a capacity of 2kW or less) – a domestic scale microCHP pilot will support up to 30,000 installations, with a review to start when the 12,000th installation is completed

watch this space