Greg Barker, Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), announced yesterday (2 October) that businesses will still be able to claim support for small-scale renewable technologies under the government’s Renewables Obligation scheme (RO), despite suggestions that these were to be scrapped in favour of Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs).

Government had proposed excluding new small-scale solar, anaerobic digestion, onshore wind and hydro-power installations of between 50 kilowatts (kW) and 5 megawatts (MW) from the RO from 1 April 2013, as part of its review of support for renewable electricity, published earlier this year.

This would have meant that Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) would have been available only to those investing in renewable installations over 5MW, with FiTs – which guarantee payment for electricity generated plus any unused surplus – being the sole support for smaller renewable projects.

The decision to keep the RO support system covering all renewable energy projects over 50kW came following ‘feedback from industry’, said DECC.

“I am fully committed to spurring on growth in clean green energy generation across the nation and want to provide long-term certainty for those who choose to invest”, said Barker.

“In light of feedback from industry on our intention to consult on the overlap between the RO and FiTs we believe that now is not the time to make further changes to these schemes.

“Industry needs certainty, and keeping the current arrangements for small-scale renewables as they are will help provide this assurance.”

Members of the renewable energy industry, who had been facing a period of uncertainty over the development of future small-scale renewable projects, welcomed the announcement.

Speaking after the announcement, Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association, Gaynor Hartnell said:“This decision is most definitely the right one, and will be welcomed by all those in the renewables industry. This is evidence of the government’s willingness to listen to sensible and constructive debate, and the kind of mature working relationship we need to have.”

Chief Executive of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA), Charlotte Morton, added: “ADBA strongly welcomes this announcement, which will give confidence to anaerobic digestion (AD) plants which rely on the RO either as their primary support mechanism or as back up to progress.

“This sensible decision recognises the huge value which AD can generate for the UK with the right support: tackling climate change, providing economic growth and supporting up to 35,000 jobs.

“We are very pleased with the speed at which DECC has responded to industry concerns, and ministers’ recognition of the need for certainty to ensure investment in technologies such as AD.”

Commending DECC on its efforts to listen to industry representatives during the consultation, Chief Executive of the British Hydropower Association, David Williams, said:“This will remove a layer of uncertainty which would have impaired the development of hydro projects in a range critical to the realisation of achievable renewables targets. We greatly appreciate the efforts which DECC has made during this difficult year to discuss and accommodate issues with industry to achieve common goals.”

DECC has said that it will ‘continue to work’ with the industry on long-term future support for small-scale renewable electricity projects, in light of the predicted ‘move from the Renewables Obligation to Contracts for Difference’. These are expected to provide long-term, ‘stable and predictable incentives for companies to invest in low-carbon generation’ as part of the Electricity Market Reform (EMR).