Cuts Affect Solar Energy – But Not For Households

Any solar installation that produces more than 50kW of energy will soon be getting far less from the government’s feed in tariff scheme. The changes are due to take place from August 1. This is not going to have any effect on normal households that are using, or want to use the technology though. Indeed the aim is to make sure that individuals will be able to make more use of the scheme, by limiting how much businesses can.

Solar installations of this size will no longer be eligible for high rates from the feed in tariff.

Bad For Business

This change will be bad for solar energy companies looking to build large solar plants in order to sell the energy to households. It will also be bad for more medium sized projects as well though, for example hospitals or community projects. There is a general feeling that the limit on the amount of energy produced may be too low for this reason.

In general terms though it is questionable whether this is even going to make a difference to the main aims of the scheme, which is to have more solar energy produced. After all, it does not matter to the planet whether the energy comes from the roof of someone’s house, or from a field that has lots of solar panels in it. Indeed, from an economic outlook, it might even be better for businesses to sell the solar energy, as then people who cannot afford the installation costs would also be able to use it.

Good For The Environment

One way in which it is good, however, is in terms of the UK’s environment, and in particular land usage. There was a situation going on whereby fields that could be used for farming were being rented by solar energy companies who wanted to be able to build a solar plant there. In principle that would be fine, but what also has to be taken into consideration is that land would not be able to be farmed then.

When the solar panels are being put on roofs of course, that is space that is not being used for anything else so there is no problem. Indeed the reason that some consider the figure of 50kW to be too low is that large buildings are able to fit enough solar panels on their roofs to make more energy than that, so those sorts of projects are also being put at risk. If the threshold was a little bit higher, then the issue of proper land usage would be dealt with, without affecting the possibilities of using solar energy on roofs.

Solar Energy UK

If you’re interested in using solar energy yourself then at the moment the highest rates for the feed in tariff are still in effect, so this is still the best time to get solar panels. The rates will be going down on a yearly basis soon however, so the sooner you are able to afford an installation, the more you will be able to make out of it. And whatever rate you start at, that is the one that you are going to have for the entire 25 years that it is guaranteed for.

If you would like a free quote for a solar installation from our expert solar installers, then you can get in touch on our freephone number or by filling in the online form.