Government confirms end to Feed-in-Tariffs pre-accreditation

Anyone investing in a new renewable energy scheme will no longer be able to lock into Feed-in Tariffs (Fits) support before project completion after the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) confirmed it would scrap pre-accreditation from 1 October 2015.

In response to a four-week consultation on ending preliminary accreditation published this week (9 September), DECC claimed the move would help prevent the surges in deployment often seen after the announcement of tariff cuts, therefore protecting the scheme’s budget and keeping energy bills down.

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But the move, which applies to all Fits claimants, threatens the viability of some projects, particularly those with greater complexity and longer lead times, such as community group schemes, hydro, AD and wind projects or larger solar arrays.

Existing pre-accreditation rules let solar and wind projects above 50kW and all hydro and anaerobic digestion projects lock into a level of support once planning permission and a grid connection has been agreed.

Respondents to the consultation argued removing pre-accreditation created greater uncertainty about future support levels and made it harder to attract finance, potentially preventing some projects from going ahead.

Call for action

The changes are subject to parliamentary approval. Sophie Payne from energy consultants New Stream Renewables said the only way to delay proceedings in Parliament was for an MP to insist on a debate to oppose the change.

“If there is no debate it will simply pass through. Therefore organisations are calling on stakeholders to contact their local MP as soon as possible and explain the impact this will have on your business.”

DECC offered a glimmer of hope by suggesting it would consider reintroducing pre-accreditation for “all groups or on a more limited basis”, but only if generation tariffs remained open following the outcome of the wider Fits review and associated cost-control measures currently being consulted on.

Solar Trade Association head of external affairs Leonie Greene said the decision, which followed the recent plan to slash generation tariffs, went against “overwhelming opposition” from the renewables industry.

“Just 16 out of 2,372 respondents supported the proposal to do away with pre-accreditation, and yet the government has gone ahead and done it anyway. They have simply ignored the overwhelming opposition from across the renewables industry and beyond.

“Renewables and solar are all about giving power to the people – this is going in the opposite direction.”

DECC also acknowledged criticism about the short length of the consultation period and lack of evidence supporting the proposals, but insisted this did not affect the ability of people to respond.

View the consultation response (pdf) on the government’s website