Welsh government attacks renewables subsidy changes

Natural Resource Minister Carl Sargeant has said that recently announced plans by the Department for Energy and Climate Change may deter clean energy investment and risk community energy schemes. The plans are to make changes to the Feed-in Tariff accreditation.

The change involves ending the ability to pre-accredit for Feed-in tariffs and to remove the ability to receive a tariff guarantee through pre-registration.

Sargeant said:

“This is another decision that fundamentally undermines confidence in investment in renewable energy projects. The level of support for deployment of small scale renewables is clear in the strength of the responses to the consultation, and I urge DECC to consider reinforcing the success of this sector in driving green growth, rather than reducing support at this stage.” “I am clear that local energy remains part of our vision for the future of Wales. We will work with communities to find clever ways of securing the maximum value from the funding that is still available so that they can benefit economically, socially and environmentally from these schemes.”