LONDON | Mon Feb 7, 2011 10:40am GMT
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is reviewing subsidies for large solar power plants because of fears they may mop up money intended to encourage smaller-scale green power production in homes and communities, the government said on Monday.
The government wants to shift funding focus away from larger installations -- under a "feed in tariff" (FIT) support scheme launched last April which currently pays a premium for electricity from installations up to 5 megawatts (MW) -- to smaller renewable energy installations.
"The renewables industry is a vital piece in the green growth jigsaw and this review will provide long term certainty while making sure homes, communities and small firms are encouraged to 536870913 produce their own green electricity," Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said.
"Large scale solar installations weren't anticipated under the FITs scheme we inherited and I'm concerned this could mean that money meant for people who want to produce their own green electricity has the potential to be directed towards large scale commercial solar projects."
The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said in a statement on Monday there was a risk that an increasing number of large scale solar farms could inflate FIT scheme costs.
The government said it would announce and consult on concrete new proposals in the near future, with new tariffs kicking in as early as April next year.
DECC said it would also study whether FITs for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants on farms are currently high enough to encourage farmers to generate energy from organic matter, with only two such projects signed up to date.
DECC said it could announce measures to support renewable heat in March.
(Reporting by Gerard Wynn and Daniel Fineren, Editing by William Hardy)
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