Community solar FiT projects get an additional six-month extension & hydro projects get 12-months

08/09/2020

We are pleased to announce that BEIS has agreed with our case for an extension for pre-registered FiT projects by granting a further extension for solar PV projects until 31 March 2021. The government was also proposing a 12 month extension for pre-registered hydropower projects which has also been confirmed. There are slight differences for community hydro, AD and wind. The formal decision is here.

We had urged the need for a further extension and responded to the consultation by collating data from members as well as projects in Wales and Scotland. We liaised directly or indirectly with more than 20 organisations representing many more sites and projects. Well more than 3MW of community energy will be installed as a result of this extension accessing millions in community capital and resulting in long term carbon saving and community benefit. We asked for a 12 month extension to avoid having to revisit and to enable all schools projects to install but are satisfied that the vast majority of projects will be able to complete within the new extension.

We thank members, Community Energy Wales, Community Energy Scotland and Local Energy Scotland for their cooperation. Collating this data into a single response showed we are an effective sector and that CEE is a genuinely representative voice on its behalf. 

We are grateful to the BEIS FiT team and Kwasi Kwarteng MP, the energy minister, for actively keeping the FiT extension under review as promised and for agreeing with our arguments for the further extension to enable as many community energy projects as possible to complete.