News Article
Is This The Last Large Scale UK Project To Get FiT?
The UK's first community owned power station goes
Southern Solar and Ovesco, the pioneering Lewes-based community energy services company, has successfully completed the installation of the UK's first community-owned solar power station in the UK. The Lewes Community Power Station went live on Saturday just two days before the Government changes to the feed-in tariff on 1 August which would have rendered this scheme impossible.
A non-profit IPS, Ovesco successfully raised 100% of the £307,000 installation cost from local people and investors. The solar PV panels have been installed and connected to the grid via the warehouse roof of Harveys Brewery, one of the oldest breweries in the UK.
Southern Solar, who helped develop OVESCO, with headquarters just outside Lewes, installed 544 solar PV panels to generate an estimated 92,000 KWH per year. Harveys will use the electricity to power the brewery while the surplus energy will be sold back to the grid. The power station will produce 100% carbon free electricity and will contribute to the UK's carbon reduction commitments.
The Lewes Community Power Station is a model of what could have been if the Government had not removed incentives to build community scale solar installations. As it will go live before the 1 August deadline, the Lewes Community Power Station will qualify for the feed-in tariff rate of 34p per kilowatt hour, providing local investors with a return of 3-4% per annum over 25 years, with the remaining income reinvested into new projects. Under the new FITs regime, introduced by Government - tariffs for community projects over 50kW have been reduced dramatically by 42%, meaning that this size of community scheme will no longer be viable. Similar sized schemes unable to meet the
1 August deadline have had to be abandoned or significantly scaled back .
"The launch of the local Lewes Community Power Station is a poignant moment for community energy generation in the UK and the result of many years of hard work. OVESCO has developed one of the only community initiatives to go live in time for the changes in Government policy on solar. This is devastating and frustrating for nearly 1000 community projects across the UK. Solar in the UK has the potential to become a major source of power generation and is the most accessible technology for community-owned energy companies," said Howard Johns, Chair of Solar Trade Association and MD of Southern Solar.
With minimum maintenance or upkeep requirements, solar is a perfect renewable energy technology for many communities across the UK including schools, hospitals as well as local businesses. The Government is effectively taking their power-generating potential away from them.
Blueprint for the future
If successful, it was planned that the self-financing method would become a blueprint for other communities in the UK who want to generate their own green energy and protect themselves from soaring energy costs.
However, the future of community power generation is in jeopardy following two recent developments from the Government. Since the scheme was first planned:
"¢ Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has decided to cut the Feed In Tariff "“ originally designed to stimulate the growth of solar in the UK - by 42% to 19p for projects above 50 KW as of August 1st
"¢ George Osborne has decided to remove EIS tax relief from FIT businesses.
Huw Irranca-Davies, Shadow Energy Minister commented: "I'd like to offer my congratulations to OVESCO and the whole of the Lewes community on this innovative scheme. This is the sort of community-based scheme that we should be encouraging. Not only will there be reductions in carbon emissions, but there will be community benefit and the development of green jobs.
"The coalition government should be encouraging more projects like this, but their knee-jerk feed-in-tariff proposals will effectively kill off projects over 50kw - the equivalent of only 15 to 20 homes. I will continue to press the government to think again, and if Greg Barker wants more evidence of why he is wrong, he need only visit Lewes."