Early adopters of onsite renewable energy technologies such as micro wind
turbines and solar panels have been left feeling "betrayed" by the government,
after it emerged they will be unable to access the higher rate of support
available through the new feed-in tariffs.

Under the government’s
Clean
Energy Cash Back scheme, which is to come into effect from April 1,
businesses and households installing on-site renewable energy technologies will
receive guaranteed payments from their energy suppliers based on how much power
they generate.

However, many of those organisations and individuals that have already
installed renewable energy technologies and will be forced to enter the feed-in
tariff (FIT) scheme will receive significantly lower tariffs than those
installing new equipment.

The rules of the scheme require that all solar PV, wind, hydroelectric and
anaerobic digestion technologies with a capacity of less than 50kW will have to
transfer over from being supported by the Renewables Obligation (RO) support
mechanism to the FIT scheme on April 1.

However, those that installed their technology and applied for support
through the RO prior to 15 July 2009, the publication date of the government’s
draft FIT proposals, will transfer into the FIT scheme at a generation tariff of
9p/kWh. The government maintains that the 9p/kWh rate is in line with the level
of income they would have received through the RO, but it is less than half the
rate offered to those installing new technologies, which can top 30p/kW for some
solar and wind technologies.

Firms or households that have installed technologies with between 50kW and
5MW before 15 July 2009 will have to stick with the RO scheme, while those that
have installed on-site renewables since last July will have to make a one-off
decision about which scheme they choose to enter.

The move has left many early adopters furious at a set of rules that will
ensure those who follow their initial lead end up earning considerably more from
their solar panels or wind turbines.

"We have received a large number of complaints from members who feel they
have been betrayed and taken for mugs," said Dave Timms, green homes campaigner
at Friends of the Earth. "They took the risk of being early adopters and the
general sense is that they have been ignored."

His comments are echoed by Stuart Pocock, head of on-site renewables at the
Renewable Energy Association, who said it was "unfair" that those pioneers who
have already installed renewable energy technologies will not be able to get the
full benefits from the FIT scheme. "The last thing the renewable energy industry
needs is bad publicity at a time when people should be excited about finally
getting the FIT in place," he said. "Given the bad feeling it will create and
the fact we are talking about a relatively small number of people, it is a very
strange decision."

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said that
the scheme has been designed to "incentivise further uptake" of renewables and
not reward those who had already taken the decision to invest in renewable
energy technologies. The government has also signalled that offering higher
tariffs to those that have previously installed low carbon technologies would
drive up costs while delivering no new reductions in emissions.

But industry insiders are sceptical about the argument that extending higher
feed-in tariffs to existing installations would not deliver any benefits.

"DECC says the scheme is there to drive new installations, but you want the
early adopters to be excited about the scheme and telling their friends in the
pub about the money they are making through it," observes Alex Murley, head of
small systems at the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA).

Timms agrees the government has undermined one of the most effective means of
promoting the new scheme. "An economist would say the early adopters are dead
weight in the scheme, and from an economic perspective they would probably be
right, but from a political and moral perspective they are making a huge
mistake," he said. "The amount of money that would be required to allow early
adopters to enter the scheme at the standard rates is very small, but the amount
of resentment that is created by not allowing them to do so is huge."

There are also concerns that some of the businesses and public sector bodies
that have been provided with government funding to install on-site renewable
energy technologies may have to pay back the grants if they want to enter the
FIT scheme.

"We are getting complaints from people that those that installed equipment
using grants from the Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP) – many of which are
schools – may have to pay back the grant," revealed Pocock. "We are desperately
trying to get the situation clarified with DECC."