Businesses that have previously installed solar PV to their trading premises, under current legislation, would lose their Feed-in-Tariff rate should they have to move premises and wish to take the solar panels with them.
From Summer 2019, landlords and tenants that have installed PV on the FiT scheme, and cannot guarantee long-term ownership or lease, will be able to take the solar PV with them without penalty to their existing tariff.
Many businesses currently in these positions are simply removing the panels and putting them into storage, as the cost to reinstall is higher than the returns from the tariff available now. This in turn is having a negative impact on solar rooftop installations – instead of encouraging businesses to invest in renewable energy it means a reduction in installations.
The announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is encouraging, and shows a commitment to increase installations of rooftop solar PV in the UK. The figures provided by DECC demonstrate a huge potential to develop this form of energy production, with circa 250,000 hectares of south facing commercial rooftop space in the UK.
The new legislation, will allow transfers to be made after a period of four years, following the legislation coming into effect. After this time transfers can be made any time during the FiT contract period, and installations will not be required to remain the same size. There are also further changes being made in regulations relating to roof-mounted solar PV on the FiT scheme meaning that a PV installed property will be required to use at least ten percent of the electricity generated.
Source: gov.uk | Announcements: Move your solar panels and keep your tariff 20 March 2015
