Renewable Energy Installer December/January 2014 | Page 40

Knowledge: End of year review
Days of future
past
Following the well-publicised changes to
the Feed-in Tariff, 2013 had been billed as a
year of consolidation. With events proving
more turbulent than expected, Paul
Stephen looks back at how the industry
has fared over the past year
he big story of the New Year was
the ‘launch proper’ of Green
Deal. Although officially the
scheme had come into existence
the previous October, finance was not made
available until January 28 alongside a £125m
government cashback scheme designed
to boost early uptake. Toriga and Travis
Perkins were quickest off the mark as the first
registered providers to sign a Green Deal plan
with a homeowner one week later. ‘Green
Deal with it’ became the official slogan of the
government’s official marketing campaign
although, at £2m, questions were asked if
enough resource had been committed to
publicise the scheme in its first days.
January also witnessed climate change
minister Greg Barker officially launch BRE’s
National Solar Center in Cornwall which
aimed to be at the forefront of research and
innovation in the sector. At the launch event,
BRE director Nick Tune said: “The centre will
help the sector deliver further reductions so
PV can become competitive with other low-
carbon electricity sources.”
In February, it was the heating sector’s
turn to experience some policy changes with
a degression mechanism introduced to
both domestic and non domestic strands of
the RHI to bring it into line with the Feed-in
Tariff and control budgets. Globally, the level
of installed PV capacity passed the 100GW
mark.
In March came the unwelcome, although not
wholly unexpected, announcement that the
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domestic RHI would not be launching in
2013 but rather 12 months later in spring 2014.
The RHPP scheme was extended as a stop
gap and would later be doubled to sustain
demand for renewable heating technologies.
Industry reaction was mixed with some
installers crediting the government with
taking extra time to ensure the scheme was
watertight before launch, whilst the majority
criticised further delays to a scheme first
drawn up in 2010. Tim Pollard, Plumb Center’s
head of sustainability, summed up the sector’s
disappointment by saying: “We do not believe
that DECC understand the serious nature of
delaying the RHI. SMEs investing in training
and people will be hard hit.”
March also saw the first rumblings of a
trade dispute between the EU and Chinese
PV manufacturers over pricing which would
come to dominate the sector over the coming
months. The European Commission opted to
register all PV products imported from China
ahead of the conclusion of its investigation
into anticompetitive practices from Chinese
firms allegedly ‘dumping’ panels in Europe at
below cost price.
The world’s largest offshore wind farm
came online during April as the London
Array saw all its 175 turbines switched on
with a total capacity of 630MW. The National
Trust also unveiled its ambitious target
to produce half its power from renewable
sources by 2020.
On May 09, the EU/China PV dispute
came to a head as the European Commission
made its decision to impose import duties of
47 percent on Chinese-made modules, wafers
and cells. Despite objections from several EU
members including the UK, an August date
was set to introduce the tariffs. UK installers
reacted fiercely to the news amid fears that
the global wholesale prices would be driven
up and kill off PV demand within these shores.
STA ceo, Paul Barwell, said: “These duties, if
imposed, will damage the UK solar market,
particularly the large scale ground-mount
sector. The cost increases resulting from these
duties will throw the UK off course from its
solar roadmap.”
As summer arrived, attention turned back to
Green Deal as the first quarterly figures
were announced by DECC. Despite a large
number of assessments being made (40,000),
only four Green Deal plans had actually been
signed and completed. DECC blamed the
disappointing figures on software glitches
whilst critics said the scheme was ineffectual
and lacked appeal with the general public.
63 Green Deal providers and 1,254 installer
organisations had become accredited under
the scheme. Greg Barker said: “It will take
time as this brand new market finds its legs,
but I now expect the number of plans signed
to start steadily rising.”
During June and July, consultations were
launched for the domestic and non domestic
RHI. DECC proposed increased tariffs for
several technologies under the commercial
strand to increase take up and correct an
apparent distortion towards biomass. A