HC 1605 Energy and Climate Change and Environmental Audit CommitteesWritten evidence submitted by Kevin Hawes, Nightingale Farm, Hartfield

1. Summary

1.1.The introduction of Feed in Tariffs has provided a welcome incentive to encourage investment in renewable energy at our farm.

1.2.For those who had a solar PV project under way, the notice period given for the FiT reduction is inadequate and unfair.

1.3.The government should provide some arrangements to allow projects that were already underway and scheduled for completion by March 2012 to benefit from the levels of FiT that were originally offered.

2. Affordability and Suitability of Solar PV Energy

2.1.Nightingale Farm is a working livestock farm of around 100 acres located in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. As we have no access to mains gas, electricity is the main form of energy used on the farm. Several of our barns have south facing roofs.

2.2.Having considered other options (including a wind turbine and a heat pump), solar PV is the only type of renewable energy we have seriously considered investing in.

2.3.The level of Feed-in Tariffs encouraged us to commit to a barn roof installation of approximately 30kWp.

3. Government Management of Solar PV FiT and the Consultation

3.1. We viewed government statements as a clear offer to pay us an index linked 32.9p per kWh, on condition that we commission our PV array by March 2012, and have acted in good faith, investing time and money in advancing our project.

3.2. While we recognised that a reduction in FiTs beyond April 2012 was always a possibility, we could not reasonably have foreseen this recent announcement requiring commissioning before 12 December.

3.3. The proposed reduction in FiTs is far greater than any reduction in the installed price of a PV installation.

3.4. Our investment in a PV array will have to be cancelled if we cannot receive the level of FiT that was originally offered.

3.5. The notice period for reducing the FiTs is unreasonably short.

3.6. Our supplier, Ice Energy, had scheduled their workload and purchase of equipment for our project to meet the March 2012 deadline. Attempting to bring forward our planned installation date has put unreasonable pressure on our supplier, and on the PV installation industry as a whole.

3.7. Although our supplier has confirmed that installation work could still take place before 12 December, approval of the connection by the District Network Operator (DNO) is likely to be the one element that will prevent our scheme. It is unclear what capability or incentive the DNO has to deal with applications in less that their usual 12 week lead time.

3.8. Generating electricity using Solar PV is a valuable and sustainable source of diversification for farmers. If the government are seen as not having honoured their promises to those of us who have chosen to become “early adopters”, it will discourage other farmers from investing in renewable energy schemes in the future.

4. Government Actions Required Now

4.1. Government should put in place arrangements to provide a smoother transition from the old levels of FiT to the new lower rates. In particular it should pay the old FiT rates to those who had made commitments to a Solar PV project prior to the latest announcement.

4.2. I recognise that as part of any transition the Government will not wish to make payments to projects that only started after the latest statement was made, however I would propose two possible criteria that might be applied:

4.2.1. Where it can be demonstrated that an order has been placed or contract entered into with a PV supplier prior to the announcement. Supplier offers and customer acceptances would have been clearly made on the basis of the original levels of FiT.

4.2.2. For schemes such as ours that required planning consent, evidence can be provided of the date on which a planning application was made to the local planning authority. Our own planning application was submitted electronically via the Planning Portal on 5 October, so the government would have easy access to a clear “audit trail” to prevent false claims being made.

4.3. Whatever decision is made about transitional arrangements, the Government should provide an incentive and resources to the District Network Operators (DNOs) to “fastpath” approvals to connect to the National Grid, so that no scheme misses the 12 December deadline solely as a result of the DNO.

8 November 2011