An interesting development in the feed-in tariff fiasco has been uncovered by Business Green, which has exposed the Government’s silent scrapping of its own solar PV projects. According to the article project stakeholders have cancelled plans thanks to the recent policy u-turn.
These stakeholders reportedly contributed to the Whitehall project to assess the potential for fitting solar panels across the Government estate, following a workshop on the topic at the Cabinet Office last November. However, due to the DECC’s proposals to chop the rate for all systems over 50kW, these plans have now been scrapped.
The project was reportedly cancelled on the quiet in March; just a week after the fast track review of feed-in tariffs was launched. The decision to slice the rate for systems over 50kW crops the subsidies by up to 70% and has therefore made several projects completely commercially unviable.
“All stakeholders were told that it has been decided not to proceed with the Solar PV Project because of the impending changes to the FiTs for solar PV and therefore it wouldn't be prudent to continue,” said Katie Moore, Co-Founder of the Solar Club, a community whose members are planning to invest in a solar project.
Soon after the meeting last autumn Government began work on planning PV installations on hospitals, council buildings and other land, hiring procurement body Buying Solutions, which began work on a more detailed solar project proposal. The body has now confirmed that the project had been cancelled. However, the spokeswoman declined to give the reason behind the project ditching.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change declined to comment on the cancelling of the project.
