Report from Regen SW on the benefits of microgeneration

A boom in households and communities generating their own energy is at risk of being undermined by government cuts, according to a new report on microgeneration by renewable energy experts Regen.

The report “The Benefits of Microgeneration and the Feed-in Tariff” reviews the evidence of the first 20 months of the government’s Feed-in Tariff scheme to support small scale renewable energy. It concludes that the scheme has shown a huge appetite to move from relying on centralised energy production to producing energy locally for our own use. There are over 900 active community energy groups and more than 2,000 jobs have been created in solar energy in the south west alone.

Merlin Hyman, Regen chief executive, said “This report shows policy to encourage microgeneration has exceeded all expectations in terms of giving households, communities and business the opportunity to generate their own energy, bring down costs and create skilled local jobs.”

He continued “the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats came to power committed to a radical policy to back decentralised energy, but by cutting the Feed-in Tariff with just a few weeks’ notice they have sent the opposite message. We need government to put the microgeneration revolution back on track.”

The report recommends that:

• Clear political backing and a transparent long-term approach to support for microgeneration, across all technologies are provided.
• The fixed cap on the cost of the Feed-in Tariff is replaced with a transparent policy that reduces tariffs in line with price falls, to protect public expenditure whilst giving the clarity needed for the industry to invest.
• The introduction of energy efficiency requirements to the Feed-in Tariff scheme should be kept simple and flexible.
• A premium Feed-in Tariff for community energy projects should be introduced.

The report can be downloaded below.

Click here for more details about the Feed-in Tariff.