Energy Bill success

Get paid more to produce green energy?

You will now - thanks to a campaign by Friends of the Earth.

Climate Bill Success

Renewable energy got a massive boost last week as MPs voted through key changes to the Energy Bill.

The changes mean homes, small businesses and communities producing surplus energy from sources like:

Wind
Solar
Wave

will get paid extra for the energy they give back into the National Grid. (known as a Feed-in Tariff).

MPs for a renewable future

This wasn't the first time MPs had asked for a feed-in tariff.

In the summer, Gordon Brown faced one of his biggest rebellions when backbench Labour MPs voted for a feed-in tariff.

But local elections meant too few MPs were in Parliament and Government narrowly won the vote.

Government U-turn

But after MPs received thousands of emails from their constituents, Ed Miliband, Secretary of State of Energy and Climate Change, agreed to introduce a feed-in tariff.

He also agreed to a renewable heat incentive - a similar scheme for renewable heat.

It is important to recognise the role played by Friends of the Earth, who have almost unendingly pursued our understanding of the arguments and we are truly grateful for that.

Alan Simpson MP

Closing the loop-holes

But the original proposal the Government unveiled was weak. It had:

No deadline
The Government was under no pressure to act.
Too low a threshold
The 3MW cap meant some community projects would be excluded.

Campaign success

We asked Government to close the loopholes by raising the threshold and setting a deadline.

They refused. But Labour backbenchers, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives all supported the change.

Finally, on the morning of the vote, Government responded to pressure and raised the tariff threshold to 5MW. This is equivalent to two large wind turbines.

The Government also committed to introduce the feed-in tariff by April 2010.

Did you know?

Community energy generation - if supported by a feed-in tariff and heat incentive - could cut UK household carbon dioxide emissions by 65%.

Energy Saving Trust.

This means more support for local projects like:

Solar panels on roofs.
Wind turbines on farms.
Community owned renewable energy schemes.

What happens next?

The feed-in tariff scheme could give a huge kick start to green energy in Britain's communities. But only if properly done.

The Government must act to set the tariff levels high enough to encourage all kinds of renewable energy.

We're delighted the Government has agreed to introduce a feed-in tariff by April 2010. It must now make sure payments are high enough to encourage a massive expansion in small scale renewable energy schemes.

Ed Matthew,
Climate campaigner, Friends of the Earth

Resource

What is a feed-in tariff and why does the UK need one?
This briefing gives a short introduction to the need for feed-in tariffs.

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