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The generation tariff for solar PV is guaranteed for 25 years
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I work for a housing association and we are working on a new scheme with solar PV, to benefit from the Feed-in Tariff and allow our tenants to have lower bills. What is the best way to operate this with our tenants? Do they all need to have the same energy supplier? What about the privately-owned flats within the development? Any advice on the best way to manage this project would be fantastic.
Under the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme, energy suppliers make regular payments to householders and communities who generate their own electricity from renewable or low-carbon sources such as PV panels. The scheme guarantees a minimum payment for all electricity generated by the system, as well as a separate payment for the electricity exported to grid. These payments are in addition to the bill savings made by using the electricity generated on-site.
The three ways in which your housing association will benefit from the FITs are:
- generation tariff – a set rate paid by the energy supplier for each unit (or kWh) of electricity you generate. This rate will change each year for new entrants to the scheme (except for the first two years), but once you join you will continue on the same tariff for 20 years, or 25 years in the case of solar electricity (PV).
- export tariff – you will receive a further 3p/kWh from your energy supplier for each unit you export back to the electricity grid, that is when it isn’t used on site. The export rate is the same for all technologies.
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energy bill savings – you will be making savings on your electricity bills , because generating electricity to power your appliances means you don’t have to buy as much electricity from your energy supplier. The amount you save will vary depending how much of the electricity you use on site.
The housing association centrally administering the project means that they receive the revenue for the generation tariff from all electricity generated on the site, they can use the electricity produced in their offices, community buildings, public areas, stair lighting, intercoms and so on, thus making a saving on electricity bills.
The rest of the generated electricity can be fed into the grid and the funds generated from the export tariff received as additional revenue by the housing association. This additional revenue the association could use to reduce the rents of tenants or maintenance bills for communal areas, stairs and landscaping that may be paid by owner occupiers in your complexes.
This would be the most straightforward way to administer the project. The association, in retaining ownership of the PV cells and associated infrastructure, will receive the regular income from your electricity supplier from the generation and export tariffs allowing the association to decide how best to benefit your members through disbursement of the generated income.
Further information is available from the Energy Savings Trust .
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