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Feed-in tariffs are disappointing for local renewable energy

Read more on the article below published in the Guardian on 2 February 2010.

The government's feed-in tariff plans keep Britain far behind Europe on renewables, and panders to big energy companies

Today, after many months of delay, the government finally announced its detailed plans for the feed-in tariff. It is a huge disappointment for all of us who want to see communities taking control of their energy production.

The announcement could have heralded a new age in British energy policy, where a large proportion of our energy is produced by individuals and communities through microgeneration, solar panels on the roofs of our schools and homes, small scale hydropower and wind.

It is an approach that has had success in many countries around Europe, where feed-in tariffs have played a fundamental role in promoting renewable energy. In Germany, where feed-in tariffs have been around for years, the total installed solar capacity is around 200 times that of the UK. The Netherlands has 40% of its electricity demand met from decentralised energy.

While it is clear that different political parties may have different views on how to develop sustainable energy solutions, the overriding factors must be that we need more sources of energy and they must be sustainable.

Therefore, while Simon Hughes of the Lib Dems supports community based solutions and the major energy companies, who operate large scale power generation plant may prefer to see a continuation of centralised generation, our view at FiveBarGate Consultants is that we probably need both. The investment needed to create sustainable energy markets is significant and we should accept that we will probably all have to pay more for energy in future.