Subsidy free future for solar PV

The solar industry has been gripped in the last few weeks by the Government announcement of the ending of the RO for sub 5MW solar PV farms. What does it really mean for Solar, and looking into our crystal ball, how can we expect it to affect installations below 100kW? Solar PV has been a success story for both the Government and consumer. The Government has been able to point out its green commitments with minimal spending, whilst those with the foresight and capability to install PV are now reaping the financial rewards. All along, the aim has been for PV to eventually become subsidy-free, so recent Government intervention has only served to increase the whispers within the industry that that time has suddenly come closer. Large-scale PV deployments have undoubtedly cut costs in some parts of the industry, but probably not on the same scale for those who wish to install relatively modest PV arrays. We are some way off being able to make a sound financial case for installing PV on energy savings alone, but are moving along the path to a subsidy-free existence. Advances in battery storage will no doubt help, although at the moment we at isoenergy feel these to be a relatively expensive and inefficient option. So back to those relatively modest sized installations mentioned earlier. The Feed in Tariff will continue to degress every three months, that much is certain. How and when it gets cut is less certain, but the current twenty year payback period, generation and export tariffs do seem generous when considering that most installs pay for themselves in around ten years or less. For those thinking of installing PV, it would seem that the current subsidies are preferential to waiting until the predicted subsidy-free future.

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