Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has launched a review of the Feed in Tariffs scheme following growing evidence that large scale solar farms could soak up money intended to help homes, communities and small businesses generate their own electricity.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has launched a review of the Feed in Tariffs (FITs) scheme following growing evidence that large scale solar farms could soak up money intended to help homes, communities and small businesses generate their own electricity.

More than 21,000 installations have been registered to date. The vast majority of these are domestic installations, including solar panels, wind turbines and microhydro plants.

Last year’s Spending Review committed government to save 10% of the costs of FITs in 2014 to 2015 through a review due to start in 2012 or earlier if uptake exceeded government expectations. Because of the risk of an increasing number of large-scale solar farms which could push FITs costs off track, and the need to give industry added certainty to invest, the coalition announced a review into the scheme.

“Large scale solar installations weren’t anticipated under the FITs scheme we inherited and I’m concerned this could mean that money meant for people who want to produce their own green electricity has the potential to be directed towards large scale commercial solar projects.”

The comprehensive FITs review will assess all aspects of the scheme including tariff levels, administration and eligibility of technologies; be completed by the end of the year, with tariffs remaining unchanged until April 2012 (unless the review reveals a need for greater urgency); fast-track consideration of large-scale solar projects (over 50kW) with a view to making any resulting changes to tariffs as soon as practical, subject to consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny as required by the Energy Act 2008.

Alongside the fast-track review of large-scale solar PV, a short study into the uptake of FITs for farm-based Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants will also take place. Only two such projects have been accredited so far and by this point at least six were expected. The tariff rates will be examined to see if they are enough to make farm based AD worthwhile.