Clean Tech Scotland

We welcome the news published in the Scotsman today that households will be paid cash rewards for investing in small-scale renewable energy generation devices, such as wind turbines, hydro schemes and PV solar panels.

From 1^st April households that use renewable devices to generate up to five megawatts of electricity will be eligible for a sizeable cash benefit in two ways, notwithstanding the savings made from reduced energy bills:

1. A flat rate will be paid to homeowners directly by their energy suppliers.
2. Electricity surplus to the home’s demand can be sold back to the national grid.

The government’s feed-in tariffs are how much households can expect as a rate of return, which is expected to be between five and eight per cent per annum.  Many environmental awareness groups have lended their support to the Government’s proposals and have pointed out that a rate of five or eight per cent is a much better return than any savings rate currently on the market.

The Government is hoping that the new scheme will lead to a revolution in the uptake of small renewable schemes, which could meet two per cent of the UK’s energy requirements by 2020.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband, said: “The guarantee of getting an income on top of saving on energy bills will be an incentive to householders and communities wanting to make the move to low-carbon living. The feed-in tariff will change the way householders and communities think about their future energy needs, making the payback for investment far shorter than in the past.”

The Scotsman have pulled together an extremely informative article, detailing the benefits of going with small-scale renewables and their return on investment.  The rest of the article can be viewed here.

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