So after the festive period of 2014, it’s all systems go for the solar pv industry. Perhaps the biggest change of the new year has been the slight reduction in the feed in tariff available to solar pv customers.
Prior to the new year, the feed in tariff for solar pv customers stood at 14.38 pence for ever unit of electricity that was generated from a solar pv installation. In addition to this, it was also assumed that the average solar pv customer would use 50 per cent of their self generated energy and therefore export 50 per cent back to the national grid. This meant that in addition to the generation tariff of 14.38 pence for every unit of electricity generated by solar panels, customers also received an export tariff of 4.77 pence for half of what the generated.
Moving into 2015,the generation tariff has been reduced slightly by 3.5 per cent. This takes the amount payable down from 14.38 pence for ever unit of electricity produced by solar panels to 13.88 pence for every unit that the solar pv system produces.
Although the generation tariff has been reduced slightly, there is some very good news. The situation regarding the export tariff has remained completely unaffected as we move into the new year. This means that as we enter 2015, it will still be assumed that the average user of a solar pv installation will use 50 per cent of the energy that they produce, and that the other 50 per cent will be exported back to the national grid. The export tariff will remain constant at 4.77 pence for half of what is generated by the solar pv system.
It will be interesting to see how the slight reduction in tariff affects solar installs throughout the year and beyond.
Happy New Year
