New tariffs for large scale and stand alone solar PV comes into force 1st August 2011

Due to a higher than expected take up of the Feed-in tariffs (FITs) scheme for large scale PV by investors and big businesses, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced on the 7th February 2011, a ‘Fast Track Review’ of FITs for PV systems above 50kW, as part of its comprehensive review of all small-scale low-carbon electricity generation. This was due to Government concern that large solar PV arrays could ultimately affect the available subsidy for domestic and smaller scale commercial systems, for which it was initially introduced. The reduction in FIT’s for large scale PV has none-the-less been met with widespread condemnation from solar industry representatives.
The new tarrif rates effective from the 1st of August 2011 are:

• >50kW - ≤150kW: 19p/kWh
• 150kW - ≤250kW: 15p/kWh
• 250kW - ≤5MW: 8.5p/kWh

This represents a reduction from 29.3p/kWh for systems for 100kW to 5MW and a reduction from 31.4p for systems from 10 - 100kW, under the base level tariff.
The first comprehensive review of the FITs scheme will be completed by around the end of 2011, when further consultations will take place. The tariffs are expected to remaining unchanged until April 2012.
A principal objective of the review is determining how the efficiency of FITs will be improved to deliver £40million of savings, around 10%, in 2014/15 as committed to in the 2010 Spending Review.
For further information please refer to the DECC website.