An executive from Spirit Solar, Erica Robb, challenged David Cameron at a small business event today over the “weeks of chaos” that have resulted from the government’s proposals to cut feed-in tariff incentives for solar installations. She branded the decision to give the industry just six weeks notice of the tariff reductions as “disgraceful”. Confronting the Prime Minister, Miss Robb said: “Before Christmas we employed 80 people. We made 30 people redundant in the week before Christmas. This was following weeks of chaos caused by the short-notice cut done by your government to the feed-in tariffs.

“The High Court has ruled that the way you did that was unlawful and (the chairman of the Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee) Tim Yeo has said it has undermined confidence, which you yourself have said is fundamental. Yet yesterday you lodged an appeal against the High Court decision twenty-five thousand people’s jobs rely on. How can you justify the appeal?”

Cameron replied “I’m afraid the government and the taxpayer and the bill-payer faced a really big problem which was that there was a feed-in tariff system set up under the last government that had very generous payments for people fitting solar panels to their roofs. I think that was a very good idea.

“The prices fell quite radically, in terms of the cost of solar panels, and so suddenly what was a reasonable tariff and a reasonable return for householders was looking like something that was much too generous – a 10% rate of return – and that was going to use up all the money that was set aside for years of this feed-in tariff.”

The reality is that the FIT scheme for solar is already in the red and the government has no choice but to act if they are to keep the scheme up and running. One solar company, Leeds Solar, have analysed the latest installation figures and calculated that the scheme will be over £100m over budget in 2012 based on today’s installations alone. Even the proposed cuts will not address this shortfall and the industry warns that the government must increase this budget.

The high court ruled just before Christmas that it would be unlawful for the government to cut feed-in tariff rates for Solar PV installations completed after 12 December on the grounds that the changes pre-empted the close date for the consultation. The government was also warned that any appeal was unlikely to be successful and were denied permission to lodge an immediate appeal.

Climate Minister, Greg Barker, is now waiting for permission to appeal the ruling and hopes to have a resolution by the end of January. He has also confirmed that the review of the consultation process over the FIT scheme is still on track for the end of January, with one key factor being to align the falling cost in technology with the level of subsidies. This should make any future changes to the FIT levels across the renewables industry much more transparent to all concerned and allow businesses to track and plan for these changes.

In the current financial climate, this is a very interesting deal for farmers already considering erecting a barn. Although they will still have to pay for any ground works required, the total cost of building the barn would be significantly reduced. Lumicity can also assist with the planning process and will manage the design and building of the barn, installation of the panels and connection to the grid, making for a simple end to end process for the farmer.

For businesses looking to provide covered parking for over 30 cars, Lumicity are offering to design a bespoke car port solution to match the aesthetics of the existing building, with the added benefit of providing charging points for electric cars. This not only provides a long term energy solution for the business, but can also enhance the environmental prestige of the company.

In both offerings Lumicity will own the panels for the first 25 years, after which ownership of the panels will pass to the barn/car port owner. They estimate that the power generated from the solar panels will be equivalent to the normal consumption of 10- 20 typical British homes, and warrant that the panels will maintain 80% efficiency after the initial 25 year period.

The UK Feed In Tariff is programmed to start on Thursday 1st April and expected to result in a substantial number of people starting to generate their own green electricity.  Under the scheme people installing renewable energy generators of under 5 Megawatts are to be paid fixed rates for the green electricity they produce and export to the grid.

Tesco has been gearing up to take advantage of this emerging market by stocking up on solar panels.  Tesco Executive director Lucy Neville-Rolfe told Timesonline: “Tesco has always led the way by bringing affordable green products to the mass market. With low-energy lightbulbs, we cut the price and demand went through the roof. Now we are making solar power mainstream by giving customers a simple, high-quality product at the right price.”

Price is however still the key problem with solar energy.  Despite people with new solar systems set to receive 36 p / kWh, a 3kW solar panel system costs around £16,000 (US $24,000) and this means a long payback period of 9 years plus.  Wind Energy Planning set out the Feed in Tariff rates to be paid for the different renewable energy technologies in the post earlier this year ‘Excitement over Green Energy Payment Rate‘.

In 2008, the Town and Country Planning Order was amended to grant permitted development rights to domestic properties for solar panels, ground source heat pumps and water source heat pumps, but not to wind turbines and air source heat pumps.

A new consultation was kicked off yesterday on Government proposals to introduce permitted development rights for small scale renewable energy and low carbon technologies for both householders and businesses. It is also looking for feedback on permitted development rights and advertisement consent for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Department head John Healey, said:

“The people who want to greenproof their homes should get a helping hand, not a stop sign. Our planning rules need to catch up with changing technologies and allow people to take the small measures that make big differences. Not only could this save up to hundreds of pounds in fuel bills, they will also help the environment.

“At the same time we need tough rules so that permitted development does not become a nuisance, so I am putting in place strong safeguards in relation to noise levels, size, location and the potential impact on an area.

“As a country, nearly half of our carbon emissions come from buildings. That’s more than roads, railways and airports combined. To stand a chance of tackling climate change, we need nothing less than a national crusade with everyone able to play their part to offset carbon emissions.”

Kelvin MacDonald, Policy Adviser at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), said:

“The RTPI supports the Government’s initiative to make it easier for householders and businesses to install renewable technologies. This is a positive step on the path towards making our energy supply more secure and less carbon-intensive and micro-renewables such as solar and heat pumps have an important role to play.

“It’s also important that the proposals take account of local circumstances and historic buildings. It will be important for planners to assess these proposals and provide their input to government to ensure the new measures are both workable and flexible enough to adapt to fast-changing renewable technologies.”

If successful the change in rules will mean that people would not need to get planning consent for a range of micro- scale technologies including:

- domestic wind turbines and air source heat pumps
- water source heat pumps
- solar panels
- flues for biomass systems and combined heat and power
- structures to house anaerobic digestion systems and biomass boilers
- structures to house hydro-turbines
- electrical vehicle charging infrastructure

The Department of Communities and Local Government say that securing renewable energy through small scale microgeneration and electric vehicles are two high national priorities and the technologies they require are evolving very fast. They believe that it is vital that they continue to enjoy widespread public support and confidence which means it is important to get their design and operation right.