The government has announced a new financial incentive program, called the Feed-In Tariffs (FITS) , to encourage businesses and homeowners to become microgenerators and generate electricity by installing renewable energy systems (e.g. Wind Turbines and Solar Photovoltaic) and to make the once expensive technologies more of a financially sound investment. Furthermore, they bring about a new age of self-sufficiency and help to reduce carbon emissions.
From the 1st of April 2010any renewable energy systems installed are eligible for the FITS paid by your electricity supplier as part of the clean energy cash back scheme. See table
The tariffs provide microgenerators a guaranteed income per kWh generated, which is fixed for 20-25 years dependant on the technology you have installed and linked to inflation. After 25 years, you will still generate an income from your system. Microgenerators will be paid for the generation of electricity regardless of whether you use it or not. So not only do you benefit from getting free electricity, you will be paid for generating it regardless of whether you use it or not. Power generated and not used by you will be sent back into the national grid and this is called your export, which is also subjected to a financial payment (minimum of 3p per kWh), further increasing your income.
Customers can only receive the FITs payments if the installation has been carried out by an approved MCS-accredited installer and using MCS-accredited products.
Use our benefit calculator to see how much money you can generate and save in energy bills and how much you can reduce your carbon emissions by installing a Solar PV system.
Act now and it pays to be green!
Example of a commercial Solar PV (50kW) installation
capable of producing 42,500 kWh of electricity per annum
generation tariff of 31.4p per kWh means an annual payment of £13,345
will reduce energy bills, providing a greater income
get paid for any electricity you do not use and export back to the national grid (minimum of 3p per kWh)
the first £900 of income generated is completely tax free, the rest is subjected to only 5% tax
Example of a domestic Solar PV (3kW) installation
capable of producing 2550kWh of electricity per annum
generation tariff of 41.3p per kWh means an annual payment of £1053.15
will reduce energy bills, providing a greater income
Generation Tariff 1st April 2010 - 31 March 2013
Technology
Scale
Tariff level for new installation in period
(p/kWh)
[NB tariff will be inflated annually]
