Investing in greener economy could spur growth: U.N.
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Channeling 2 percent, or $1.3 trillion, of global gross domestic product into greening sectors such as construction, energy and fishing could start a move toward a low-carbon world, a report launched on Monday said.
The investment would expand the global economy at the same rate, if not higher, as under present economic policies, said the report by the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP).
“Investing 2 per cent of global GDP into 10 key sectors can kick-start a transition toward a low-carbon world,” the Nairobi-based agency said in a statement.
“The sum, currently amounting to an average of around $1.3 trillion a year and backed by forward-looking national and international policies, would grow the global economy at around the same rate if not higher than those forecast, under current economic models.”
UNEP’s Executive Director Achim Steiner said in the statement: “With 2.5 billion people living on less than two dollars a day and with more than two billion people being added to the global population by 2050, it is clear that we must continue to develop and grow our economies.
“But this development cannot come at the expense of the very life support systems on land, in the oceans or in our atmosphere.”
Agriculture, buildings, energy supply, fisheries, forestry, industry, tourism, transport, waste management and water are sectors that could do with more greening, the report said.
Buildings are the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases because of inefficient heating in offices and homes, according to the study entitled “Toward a Green Economy.”
THREEFOLD INCREASE IN RECYCLING
The sector’s footprint could nearly double by 2030, or 30 percent of total energy-related carbon dioxide.
The report suggests investing $108 million in the waste sector annually could increase recycling threefold by 2050 and reduce landfill contents by more than 85 percent.
In Brazil, recycling already makes $2 billion a year while avoiding 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, UNEP said.
Greener policies would still grow economies while reducing the ecological footprint by nearly 50 percent in the next 40 years, but some jobs would be lost as a result in sectors such as fisheries, the report said.
Investment in more sustainable productive activities would, however, offsets those job losses by developing sectors such as renewable energy.
Government subsidies in the fishing industry amount to about $27 billion a year and have created excess capacity and depleted fish stocks globally.
Greening agricultural with practices such as efficient use of water or organic nutrients would offer a means of feeding a global population of about 9 billion by 2050 without damaging nature.
Farming practices currently use more than 70 percent of freshwater resources and contribute more than 13 percent of greenhouse gases.
“Governments have a central role in changing laws and policies, and in investing public money in public wealth to make the transition possible. By doing so, they can also unleash the trillions of dollars of private capital in favor of a green economy,” said Pavan Sukhdev, head of UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative.
Solar photovoltaic on the brink of economic breakthrough
Global investments in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology could double from €35-40 billion today to over €70 billion in 2015, according to a study published today by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and Greenpeace International. The estimated investments in the European Union alone would rise from today’s €25-30 billion to over € 35 billion in 2015.
New study projects solar investments to double until 2015
This report on the global market outlook for solar photovoltaic, named “Solar Generation 6” (1) foresees that PV could account for 12% of the European power demand by 2020, and up to 9% of the global power demand by 2030.
“Our goal is to make solar photovoltaic technology a mainstream power source through policy support at an optimal cost for consumers,” said Sven Teske, Senior Energy Expert at Greenpeace International. He added that, “Solar photovoltaic is a key technology for combating climate change; our research shows that it creates 35 to 50 jobs per tonnes of CO2 savings and will increase the security of energy supply by reducing dependency on energy imports to Europe.”
“Solar photovoltaic technology has, for many years now, shown increased power efficiencies and cost reductions,” said Ingmar Wilhelm, President of EPIA. “Today’s cost predictions, driven also by economies of scale in light of global photovoltaic capacity, totaling 40,000 MW in 2010, show that the technology is on the brink of an economic breakthrough” Mr. Wilhelm added.
PV prices have dropped some 40% since 2005 and by 2015 the cost of PV systems is expected to drop by an additional 40% compared to current levels. As a result, PV systems will be able to compete with electricity prices for households in many countries of the European Union within the next five years.
“We aim to make this important phase of cost competitiveness visible, and EPIA will provide a realistic road-map for every country with clear concepts on market mechanisms allowing equal treatment of all electricity sources,” added the President of EPIA.
The report estimates that current global solar PV capacity could grow from over 36 GW at the end of 2010 to close to 180 GW by 2015. European PV capacity is expected to increase from over 28 GW in 2010 to nearly 100 GW by 2015, and has the potential to reach up to 350 GW on a global basis by 2020. This would save as much as 1.4 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions globally and 220 million tonnes within the EU every year(3).
In addition to its environmental benefits, the report shows solar energy to be a sustainable way to address concerns about energy security and volatile fossil fuel prices, as well as a substantial factor in economic development. The European PV industry, which already employs over 300,000 people, could provide jobs to over 600.000 by 2015, and has the potential to further increase to 1.6 million in 2020 if general policy support remains effective.
The “Solar Generation 6” report also highlights the enormous PV potential for Europe in the light of the Union’s established 20% renewable energy and the 20% energy efficiency target. Based on this potential for photovoltaic growth, the EU could easily increase its emission reduction target from the current 20% by 2020 to a more aggressive 30% level.
Source: Solarplaza
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Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2010
Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports:
The sustainable energy investment story of 2009 was one of resilience, frustration and determination.
Resilience to the financial downturn that was hitting all sectors of the global economy and frustration that, while the UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen was not the big breakdown that might have occurred, neither was it the big breakthrough so many had hoped for.
Yet also determination on the part of many industry actors and governments, especially in rapidly developing economies, to transform the financial and economic crisis into an opportunity for greener growth.
Let’s look at the numbers: new investment in sustainable energy was $162 billion in 2009, or some 7% down from 2008 figure of $173 billion - an estimate revised up from the original $155 billion made at the time.
Nevertheless 2009’s figure was still the second highest annual investment total ever (and four times that seen in 2004) and spending on new capacity (including large hydro as well as other renewable) was for the second year running bigger than the investment in new fossil fuel capacity.
This underlines that sustainable energy was not a bubble by-product of the ill-fated credit boom, but a global investment transition that is likely to strengthen over time.
In 2009, governments stepped in as never before - some $188 billion of ‘green stimulus’ commitments began to be spent - and public banks like the European Investment Bank and Germany’s KfW helped bridge the financing gap.
Supportive policies for clean energy expanded. According to REN21’s Renewables 2010 Global Status Report the companion report to SEFI’s Global Trends also launched today, over 100 countries had some type of policy target or promotion policy for renewable energy by early 2010. This represents more than half the countries in the world.
China for the first time took the top spot globally for overall sustainable energy investment in 2009, pushing the United States to second place: in 1999 China made 1% of the world’s solar panels; by 2008 it was the world’s leading producer with a 32% market share.
Last year, as export markets faltered, domestic demand surged, especially in the wind sector. The close-to- 14GW of new wind capacity built in China during 2009 was nearly 15% of the total new generating capacity added to the grid.
The Copenhagen Accord, to which over 100 countries have now associated themselves, has brought developed and developing economies together for the first time on decoupling economic and emissions growth.
But there is a gap between the ambition and the science in terms of where the world needs to be in 2020 to avoid dangerous climate change by mid-century. Sustainable energy, from wind to geothermal and photovoltaic to solar thermal, can assist in bridging that gap if the right kind of green economy policies are accelerated and embedded internationally and nationally.
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Solar Market Heats Up
Source: Renewable Energy World
The US and Canada are waking up to the prospects of solar power generation. Prices for solar PV have fallen and utilities are increasingly developing projects that use the sun to generate electricity.
Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA — Solar power, once seemingly confined to the desert Southwest, is making inroads from Florida to New Jersey, Colorado to Nevada. Ron Kenedi, vice president of Sharp Solar Energy Solutions Group, said “the whole country is waking up to the idea of solar.” Take Florida Power & Light’s (FP&L’s) 25 MW DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia, Fla. The plant is now one of the largest PV installations in North America, having overtaken NV Energy’s 17 MW facility at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The DeSoto Center uses more than 90,500 crystalline-silicon PV panels mounted on tracking systems and is capable of generating about 42,000 MWh annually.
Then there’s the 21 MW Blythe power plant in Riverside County, Calif. First Solar developed and built the plant. Electricity generated by the facility is being sold to Southern California Edison (SCE) under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The Blythe plant is one of the largest thin film PV projects in the U.S.
Spawning developments like the Blythe plant, California continues to lead the U.S. solar market with 53 percent of U.S. PV on-grid installations, according to Solarbuzz, a market research business focused on solar developments. But solar power is no longer just a California thing.
“Now just about every place in the U.S. is being represented by solar,” Kenedi said. “In the Southeast, you have Tennessee and Florida; in the Northeast, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; in the West, Colorado, California and Nevada.”
What Recession?
The solar industry shone brightly in 2009 while much of the rest of the economy was in a blackout. According to the American Solar Energy Society, 33,000 solar installations were made in 2009, a 40 percent increase from the 251 MW in 2008 to 481 MW in 2009. The Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA’s) U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review 2009 (PDF) said total U.S. solar electric capacity from PV and concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies climbed past 2,000 MW. Venture capitalists invested more in solar technologies than any other clean technology in 2009, pumping some $1.4 billion into solar companies, according to SEIA.
Hamm said utility-scale projects grew by 267 percent in 2009. According to SEPA’s latest ranking, top utilities were Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in California, Southern California Edison, Public Service Electric & Gas Co. in New Jersey, Florida Power & Light Co., San Diego Gas & Electric Co., Public Service Co. of Colorado-Xcel Energy, Arizona Public Service Co., Salt River Project in Arizona, Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Supply and Demand
Competition from solar panels continues to make PV the fastest growing solar market in North America. PV is easier to finance, quicker to permit and easier to deploy than CSP. And panel costs are falling to the range of $3.50 to $5.50 a watt. Solar thermal costs remain largely unchanged at $7 to $8 a watt.
As Chinese manufacturers enter the solar market, competition has caused downward pressure on PV manufacturing prices. Aside from manufacturing, the solar power industry has recovered in the past year from oversupply to a healthier balance of supply and demand. Many solar programs were just launching when the recession hit, causing financing for big jobs to become congested. “The train got derailed for a little while,” Kenedi said. With high demand from European markets whose incentives will soon run dry and the continual growth of the U.S. market, the balance of supply and demand is now more equal.
“The market has grown faster than we thought it would,” Kenedi said. “We’re doing a good job at lowering the price of solar.” He said the cost of a PV system has dropped 35 to 40 percent in the last 14 months.
Incentives
Incentives work like a magnet to draw some power companies into renewables. One strong incentive has been the Treasury Grant Program, a cash grant that can be taken in lieu of the Investment Tax Credit, providing a 30 percent incentive to property that is part of a qualified facility, fuel cell property, solar property or small wind property. The 30 percent Treasury Grant Program was extended in October 2008 but is set to expire at the end 2010. As a result, many in the solar industry are rushing to meet the start-construction deadline of December 31.
Tom Fair of NV Energy said tax incentives need to be reliable for the solar industry to move forward. “It really does make for a more certain investment environment. If you know what your tax situation is going to be a couple years from now, then you can put your money into something.”
The European Union (EU) has found success in its feed-in tariff program. And the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) was commissioned last fall by the province to commence a feed-in tariff program similar to that of the EU. Ontario adopted the Green Energy and Green Economy Act that provides a feed-in tariff program for all renewables: solar, hydro, wind and bio energy. In addition, the Act also includes a commitment to energy conservation improvements, smart grid developments, and supports the creation of 50,000 jobs over the next three years. Ontario’s goal is to go off of coal by 2014, said JoAnne Butler, OPA’s vice president of electricity resources. This will mean shutting down coal-fired plants that produce 6,000 MW province-wide. Butler said Ontario is well on its way to meeting this goal.
The challenge to renewable growth in Ontario is lack of available transmission capacity, Butler said. OPA’s plan is to contract for 2,500 MW of renewables, but “that uses every megawatt of access capacity on the Ontario grid.” However, Ontario is working on a series of transmission system expansion projects aimed at opening up capacity to accommodate more renewable projects in the future.
Future Projections
Solarbuzz released a study in July projecting that U.S. solar will grow tenfold by 2014. On a global scale, the U.S. is fourth in PV production behind Germany, Spain and Japan. In CSP developments, the U.S. is No. 1 for CSP production with 431 MW as of March 2010. Spain was No. 2 at 231 MW. However, Spain ranked No. 1 in solar thermal growth, adding 220 MW from March 2009 to March 2010. The U.S. added 7 MW.
So is the future of solar in North America truly bright?
Milestone: 10 Gigawatts of Solar Panels in 2010
Source: Greentechmedia
As Solar Power International looms and we approach the milestone of 10 gigawatts of solar installed in 2010, Greentech Media asks a few solar luminaries to reflect on the event.
This year we will cross the threshold of 10 gigawatts of photovoltaic solar installed globally in a single year — a record-setting and once-inconceivable number. The analyst community sees the total number for 2010 in the 12 gigawatt to 15 gigawatt range. Expectations for next year are close to 20 gigawatts.
Rewind to ten years ago: the total amount of photovoltaics installed in the year 2000 was 170 megawatts. Since then, the solar photovoltaic industry has grown at a 51 percent annual growth rate, and 170 megawatts is now the size of a healthy utility installation or a small solar factory. As Andrew Beebe mentions below, Suntech has a single building with a one-gigawatt capacity.
Photovoltaic module pricing has made radical progress as well, moving from $300 per watt in 1956, to $50 per watt in the 1970s, to $10 per watt in the 1990s, to $2 per watt today. It’s not exactly Moore’s law, but it is that drop in pricing, chicken-or-egg with policy and technology, that is driving this industry. Pricing of $1 per watt is not that far off.
Ten gigawatts is a significant milestone for the PV industry, but it warrants some perspective:
- That’s the total power that five or six nuclear power plants generate — and there are about one hundred nuclear plants in the U.S. alone.
- The wind industry installed 27 gigawatts in 2008, 38 gigawatts in 2009 and has a total installed base of more than 158 gigawatts compared to PV’s installed base of about 20 gigawatts. 2010 will see more than 200 gigawatts of installed wind and the Global Wind Energy Council expects that to double to 400 gigawatts by the end of 2014.
A few more points about today’s PV market: From a demand standpoint, it’s healthier, with less reliance on “savior” markets and feed-in tariff hotspots. Note the diminishing reliance on Germany as solar savior in the chart below and get many more details in Greentech Media Research’s recent PV demand analysis.
Still, the 10-gigawatt-PV-installed mark will occur, barring disaster, sometime this month. Our calculations put it at 2:15 PM on October 13. It’s a milestone worth noting and a stepping stone, as Travis Bradford note below, on the way to 100 gigawatts installed in 2020.
Here are some reflections on the achievement from some of the technologists, entrepreneurs and investors making it happen:
Dan Shugar, CEO Solaria Corporation
In 2004, we built the world’s first 10-megawatt PV project at PowerLight Corporation — Bavaria Solar 1. Constructed in six months with investment-grade financing, this project exceeded performance expectations. That project and many others like it have validated PV as reliable power-plant technology. In 2004, total shipments were 1 gigawatt; since then our industry has scaled tenfold. No other energy technology has ever grown this rapidly. Costs for high-quality crystalline tracking PV have fallen by half over this period, while fossil-fuel-generating sources like coal have increased in cost over 70 percent; in sunny areas, PV is less costly today than energy from “gas peaker” plants, which is the best “apples-to-apples” comparison to PV.
In the U.S. over this six-year period, the Sierra Club and its allies have thankfully killed over half of all new proposed coal projects. The environmentalism momentum — combined with recent catastrophes in fossil fuel extraction — will further accelerate a transition to solar. I believe we have passed the “PV tipping point” and must now rally our efforts to accelerate PV’s role as a mainstream energy source. Solaria Corporation, and other innovative companies, have developed new PV products that further reduce PV cost and significantly improve the rate of return on invested capital for new manufacturing capacity. It is very exciting to be part of this industry as we scale environmentally responsible solutions for meeting growing energy requirements, all while growing green-collar jobs and improving energy security.
Paul Detering, CEO Tioga Energy
As I thought about 2006 and 2007 (when I got started in solar) and what has happened in the past three years, it all pales in comparison to what must happen if distributed solar PV is to be another transformative, innovation-driven industry like personal computing, mobile communications, the internet, etc.
Yes, 10 gigawatts is a milestone. But it is not even the first lap of a long race. The worldwide installed electricity capacity in 2006 was about 4,000 gigawatts.
Today solar is where the Motorola brick was in 1983 — 27 years ago. We must innovate the technology, infrastructure (network) and business systems in the same way the mobile communications industry has, achieving the same relative improvements and getting us to our solar iPhone (or solar Droid)
10 gigawatts represents about $50B of power generating capacity — that is remarkable. Subsidies in one way, shape or form paid or will pay for about half of that. We need to take our solar bricks and create solar iPhones (or solar Droids) and wean ourselves off the subsidies. We need to do that before we get to 100GW or we will never get to the 1,000GW mark.
Andrew Beebe, Chief Commercial Officer, Suntech Power
We have a building (that’s one building!) in China that this year should be capable of cranking out one gigawatt of product per year. I think that’s larger than the entire industry’s capacity ten years ago. So, I’d say, yes, we’ve come a long way.
I think the other interesting statistic is: what percentage that 10 gigawatts is of all new global power generation capacity that’s come online in the same year (much more interesting than the percentage of total global energy production for the year). Even more interesting is the percentage of new generation capacity produced in the last year, with production initiated in the last year. In other words, while nukes are interesting, their two-gigawatt reactors take 17 years to build, while we can go from sand to power generation in 12 months.
So, yes, we’ve come a long way.
I’m proud of the industry’s capacity, but I think you will see anxiety and a lack of sleep in the eyes of everyone in the industry until we hit true grid parity in large regions of the world. In California, we’re damn close. With the federal tax credit, and the small amount left in the CSI, residential buyers are finding that leasing and PACE and PPA options all make the economics work. This is great, but until we see this happen without those support mechanisms, we’ll still have to live with inorganic growth driven by policy.
I predict that within three years, we’ll see grid parity in parts of California, Japan, and parts of Europe. Then the real fun begins.
Travis Bradford, Founder of the Prometheus Institute, Author of Solar Revolution
When I first started talking about the “Solar Revolution” in 2003, there was little interest or confidence that solar would ever matter. Despite almost 30 years of double-digit annual growth at that point, most folks neither saw the unfolding changes nor were willing to extrapolate those into the future. Now we are at the doorway of 10 gigawatts of annual production, grid parity in a diversified set of national markets around the world, and an awakening of the inevitable role solar will play in our future.
When my book came out in 2006, I would give talks that suggested that it would probably take 30 years for solar to become a dominant part of our energy asset base and 10 years to become a meaningful part of our annual new additions, but that we would likely see the most important achievement of what I termed “economic obviousness” — the point at which the expectation of solar’s eventual economic dominance was widely recognized — within five years. Given that installed commercial and industrial system prices will fall below $3 per watt by the end of next year and electricity prices are rising faster than predicted, it seems like we are right on schedule.
Ten gigawatts of annual installation will not even be a footnote when the history of solar is written, but it is likely that 100 gigawatts will. I look forward to that milestone at the turn of the next decade, if not sooner. Viva la revolución.
FinancEnergy es miembro fundador de una nueva plataforma mundial de energía solar
La nueva plataforma mundial de la energía solar está formada por empresas y personas con ideas afines, con el propósito de invertir en plantas de energía renovable. Estos proyectos de energía serán explotadas durante todas sus vidas con fin de generar un alto rendimiento para todas las partes interesadas. La plataforma de la energía solar consistirá en empresas de marketing y ventas, ingenierías técnicas y las empresas de construcción, así como las entidades que serán responsables de la operación y mantenimiento de dichos proyectos.
La plataforma se concentrará en plantas de energía renovable en todos aquellos países y regiones del mundo que ofrecen atractivas sistemas de tarificación y un entorno de inversiones estable y seguro.
Actualmente un equipo de asesores de renombre internacional de alto perfil y especialistas están estructurando la infraestructura de la plataforma. El lanzamiento estará previsto para junio de 2010.
Ontario approves more than 500 renewable energy projects under new feed-in tariff
The first 510 large-scale projects have been given the go-ahead under a new feed-in tariff (FIT) programme launched in Ontario, Canada.
Of the total projects, 95 per cent are solar with an additional 20 biogas, four hydropower, three onshore wind and one biomass system.
The incentive means solar installation operators can receive up to CAN$0.71/kW ($0.69/kW) hour over 20 years for roof-mounted solar photovoltaic systems, with lower payments for ground-mounted projects.
Proposals that received approval in the new scheme are to be built in 120 communities across Ontario by farmers, municipalities, local distribution companies, commercial businesses, the Ontario Power Authority said.
The projects range from 10KW to 500KW and have a total generating capacity of 112MW, it said.
The FIT programme has domestic content requirements to ensure a key of the technology used for renewable energy generation comes from Ontario. In addition, developers must meet a certain percentage of goods and labour from Ontario until the time the project reaches commercial operation.
For solar photovoltaic projects larger than 10KW, the requirement is 50 per cent today, which will increase to 60 per cent in 2011.
The Ontario Power Authority began accepting FIT applications on 1 October 2009 and received 956 eligible applications for the first round of funding.
Copyright © 2010 NewNet
Solar market to grow by at least 40 per cent in 2010, EPIA says
The global solar market is expected to grow by at least 40 per cent in 2010 having added an extra 6.4GW of capacity in 2009 pushing worldwide output to more than 20GW, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) said.
It said 2009 was the most important annual capacity increase ever and was particularly impressive in light of the difficult financial and economic circumstances.
Cumulative installed capacity is expected to grow by at least 40 per cent over the course of the year with Germany remaining as the world’s largest single market.
It said the global photovoltaic (PV) market could reach between 8.2GW and 12.7GW of new installations if growth and policy continue to progress at a moderate rate. If a policy-driven scenario was to take hold, the global annual market could reach up to 30GW by 2014.
The EPIA said during 2009, Germany’s lead was followed by Italy, Japan and the US.
‘In the mid-term, Italy appears as one of the most promising markets with an additional capacity of some 700MW already in 2009,’ EPIA said.
In addition to sun irradiation, the revised incentive scheme, Conto Energia, which is due to be announced in the coming month, will continue to support momentum in the Italian market, EPIA said.
Alongside Italy, the Czech Republic showed an important growth during the year with 411MW installed but, due to overly generous support schemes EPIA said it predicts this market will shrink in 2011 after holding firm for the rest of 2010.
Adel El Gammal, Secretary General of EPIA, said, ‘This underlines the imperative need for support mechanisms to be designed in a way to ensure a long term, predictable and sustainable development of the market and avoid instability and discontinuity in market evolution.’
Strong political support for solar energy meant that Belgium made it into the top ten markets in 2009 with 292MW installed but a change in the financial support awarded to the sector means that this is expected to slow down slightly in 2010, it said.
Meanwhile in France, 185MW was installed in 2009, with an additional 100MW in place but not yet connected to the grid.
‘In spite of a huge potential this clearly demonstrates the importance for France to solve grid connection issues in order to allow the market to develop,’ EPIA said.
The boom-and-bust Spanish market, which set a market cap in 2008, saw only a minimal rise of 60MW installed in 2009 due to a lack of government incentives and the effects of the financial crisis.
Outside Europe, Japan became the third largest solar market in 2009 with 484MW installed, exhibiting important growth potential, EPIA said.
Also within the Asia-Pacific region, the association said both China and India are expected to boom in the next five years and also cited Brazil, Mexico, Morocco and South Africa as countries with promise.
Ingmar Wilhelm, president of the EPIA, said, ‘In addition to the ramp-up of many markets in Europe, the development and opening of new markets in Asia, the Americas and Africa is paving the way to a strong and sustainable momentum of PV powered supply solutions all around the world.’
Copyright © 2010 NewNet
United Kingdom to Establish Feed in Tariffs
Households and communities who install generating technologies such as small wind turbines and solar panels will from April be entitled to claim payments for the low carbon electricity they produce.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband today announced the feed-in tariff (FITs) levels and also published a blueprint for a similar scheme to be introduced in April 2011 to incentivise low carbon heating technologies. The renewable heat incentive (RHI) will be a world first. The schemes are designed to bring about a significant increase in the amount of locally produced green energy, as a contribution to the wider shift of the energy mix to low carbon.
Ed Miliband said: “The guarantee of getting an income on top of saving on energy bills will be an incentive to householders and communities wanting to make the move to low carbon living. The feed-in tariff will change the way householders and communities think about their future energy needs, making the payback for investment far shorter than in the past. It will also change the outlook for a range of industries, in particular those in the business of producing and installing small scale low carbon technology.”
From 1 April, householders and communities who install low carbon electricity technology such as solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines up to 5 megawatts will be paid for the electricity they generate, even if they use it themselves. The level of payment depends on the technology and is linked to inflation. They will get a further payment for any electricity they feed into the grid. These payments will be in addition to benefiting from reduced bills as they reduce the need to buy electricity.
The PV tariff levels are set out below:
| . | Tariff level for new installations in period (p/kWh) [tariffs will be inflated annually] | Tariff lifetime (years) | ||
| PV System Size | Year 1: 1.04.10- 31.03.11 |
Year 2: 1.04.11- 31.02.12 | Year 3: 1.04.12- 31.03.12 | . |
| Less than or equal to 4 kW (new build) | 41.3 | 41.3 | 37.8 | 25 |
| Less than or equal to 4 kW (retrofit) | 36.1 | 36.1 | 33.0 | 25 |
| >10 - 100kW | 31.4 | 31.4 | 28.7 | 25 |
| >100kW - 5MW | 29.3 | 29.3 | 26.8 | 25 |
| Standalone system | 29.3 | 29.3 | 26.8 | 25 |
The scheme will also apply to installations commissioned since July 2008 when the policy was announced. A typical 2.5kW well sited solar pv installation could offer a homeowner a reward of up to £900 and save them £140 a year on their electricity bill.
Mr Miliband was speaking as he visited low income homes in Dagenham being helped by eaga’s Clean Energy for Social Housing project to make the move to microgeneration. The scheme offers free clean energy technology to tenants in social housing which will lower their electricity bills and carbon emissions.
John Swinney, eaga Director of Strategy and Corporate Services, said: “By utilising the feed-in tariff initiative and installing free solar technology this programme can cut energy bills for those most in need. We are also recruiting and training renewable energy engineers directly from the local communities where the green technology is being installed. “This innovative development can be offered right across the UK. We expect thousands of households to benefit in the first few years and up to 300 additional green energy jobs could be created as part of this program.”
The Department of Energy and Climate Change also published today plans for a scheme to incentivise renewable heat generation at all scales. This will come into effect in April 2011 and guarantee payments for those who install technologies such as ground source heat pumps, biomass boilers and air source heat pumps.
Under the proposed tariffs the installation of a ground source heat pump in an average semi-detached house with adequate insulation levels could be rewarded with £1,000 a year and lead to savings of £200 per year if used instead of heating oil. The heat incentive could help thousands of consumers who are off the gas network lower their fuel bills and gain a cash reward for greening their heating supply. Details of funding for the scheme will be published in the Budget 2010.
Emerging Energy Research
| Southern Europe’s long-term growth prospects–with 38 GW of new projects expected by 2020–are expected to help pull the global PV industry out of its current slump, according to a new market study from Emerging Energy Research.
EER estimates that Southern Europe accounted for approximately 25% of 2009 additions in Europe behind Germany, the leading European PV market at 67%. Italy and France are expected to lead growth in the short term, while Spain remains a substantial long-term growth market. EER projects Italy to be the strongest of the Southern European PV markets in the near term. Italy’s robust feed-in tariff has ignited the Italian PV market and attracted significant attention from developers seeking new opportunities outside the mercurial Spanish market. An increasing number of domestic and international developers, including TERNI, Enel, Kerself, and OPDE are scaling their activities to advance ground-based and rooftop segments. Alongside Italy, clear regulatory initiatives are turning France into one of the most stable PV markets in Europe. France has rapidly transitioned from a relatively inactive market, with 128 MW of installed capacity as of June 2009, to one that may surpass 800 MW per year by 2012, and leading renewable players EDF-EN and E.ON are looking to capitalize. Italy Regional PV Breakdown |
