DECC has announced that the European Commission has formally approved the UK's notification of State Aid for the changes to the FITs scheme resulting from Phase 2B of the Comprehensive Review. This means that the introduction of the new 100-500kW hydro band, and the increase to the micro-CHP tariff, will be effective from the date of approval, 15 March 2013. Please see the tariff tables on the Ofgem FIT website for the latest rates:
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/fits/tariff-tables/Documents1/FIT%20Tariff%20Table%201%20April%202013%20Non-PV%20Only.pdf
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I have now drafted a response on behalf of the mha to the supplementary consultation by the Environment Agency (EA) on regulating abstraction of water for hydropower. The response is available here.
There have been hundreds of responses from people with angling interests who have been led to believe there is a threat from hydropower schemes to the rivers they fish. I am certain that this is not the case for the majority of the small scale hydropower schemes that you generators, potential generators, supporters, and suppliers of services are concerned with. There are now 170 members of the mha - let all our voices be heard! DEADLINE FOR RESPONSES: 2 APRIL 2013 23:39 I would ask you to spend the very small amount of time it will take to respond on-line to the EA consultation so that they are not faced with choosing an approach which I believe could act as an extreme constraint on any further micro hydropower development in England and Wales. There are some concerns with “option 1” of the four options presented by the EA, but I and others deeply involved with hydropower, including the British Hydropower Association, consider it the only option of the four that can be acceptable in the short term. For micro hydropower I am, as you will have read before, proposing a much simplified registration process for low impact schemes. I will be including this redraft of the proposed process with my consultation response. The redraft incorporates amendments to cover the comments on the first draft that some of you have helpfully provided (see this version showing the amendments). I will also now be pursuing this draft proposal with DECC, DEFRA, environment agencies and other departments and agencies. So please submit your response to the EA consultation , even if only to select option 1 as your preferred option of the four (unless of course you disagree!). The preferred method of response is on-line here: https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/portal/ho/br/standards/hydro or you can send an email or postal response to: Eileen Falkner ([email protected], 01179344185) Environment Agency Horizon House Deanery Road Bristol BS1 5AH Ofgem have published an extremely clear factsheet here. This explains clearly the the ROOFIT process of accreditation is now mandatory and the sole route for any hydropower scheme (under 5MW capacity) to become elgible to receive the FiT.
Ofgem have published the definition as follows:
For hydro installations, the “generating equipment” is:
I have been involved for some time in discussions with departments and agencies on the way micro hydro schemes are regulated and on other matters affecting their development. I have now drafted a paper which proposes ways to lessen the burden both for potential scheme owners and developers, and for agencies and planning authorities.
It is alarming that the few suppliers with real experience are now abandoning micro hydro owing largely to the delays and complexities of the red tape - hundreds of valuable schemes risk delay or abandonment otherwise. Please contribute your comments and ideas in response to this entry. 21 January 2013 Environment Agency consultation on flow standards
The EA has today published their supplementary consultation on flow standards for regulating hydropower abstraction. It is vital for securing the hydropower industry's existence and ability to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and for the ecology of watercourses, that the Agency adopts a rational approach to setting both risk based and proportionate guidance and permitting rules. The EA proposes four options but does not limit responses to those. I will be posting a draft response to the consultation on this website and distributing it to mha members by email, inviting comment before a final submission on behalf of the mha. The consultation document is also available here. Note that EA's Option 1 is basically emulating SEPA guidance for high head schemes already in place for Scotland. The consultation is open for 10 weeks closing on 2 April 2013. The full list is available from Ofgem here (large Excel spreadsheet):
Feed-in Tariff Installation Report 31st December 2012 - MS Excel - 38986Kb I have extracted data for hydro installations in this spreadsheet (also in pdf format here) Below are analyses of this data for micro hydro schemes (<=100kW) commissioned from 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010. The EA has published supplementary notes replacing sections of the GPG1 guidelines in advance of the publication of GPG2 now promised "in the third quarter of 2013": email from the EA follows:
Dear Colleagues, When I wrote to you at the end of September, I explained that we were preparing some supplementary advice notes, covering a limited range of topics. I am pleased to be able to tell you that these are now available on our website and can be downloaded from http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/water/126575.aspx. The topics covered are: LIT 7511 Screening requirements LIT 7513 Fish passage LIT 7515 Weirs LIT 7517 Competing schemes At the same time, we have edited the current edition of the Good Practice Guidelines to include references to these advice notes where appropriate and to delete sections that are now superseded, to prevent confusion. This is also available via the link above. The advice, which largely reflects current practice, is effective immediately and should be incorporated into applications for new schemes as applications are submitted. For schemes where we have accepted applications and these are in the process of determination, our staff will consider whether the new advice justifies seeking amendments and will contact applicants, if necessary, to discuss the issues. Meanwhile, we are making good progress with the preparation of the supplementary consultation on flow and abstraction options, which we will be publishing in the New Year. I will write to you again to lety you know our plans for the consultation. --------- (from Tony Grayling, Head of Climate Change and Communities, Environment Agency) I am often asked what training is available for people wishing to become installers or to train others. There is to my knowledge very little available, although hydropower is covered in some engineering further education programmes.
IF YOU KNOW OF ANY USEFUL COURSES FOCUSSING ON MICRO-HYDRO, PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS ENTRY DECC have just publicised the orders that will implement the FiT changes which were announced on 22 July (see entry here). The problem with a single band for hydro schemes in the new degression mechanism remains (once a few big schemes have been completed the tariff will drop sharply, affecting many potential smaller schemes). There are supposed to be 40 days for parliamentary scrutiny of these orders, but they are not likely to be adjusted at this stage. The announcement came today but there are now only 4 (correction) days remaining to review the draft standard conditions which state the degression rates.
DECC's announcement and links to the documents are below: "Following announcement of the Government Response to Consultation on Comprehensive Review Phase 2B in July, we have recently laid the two aspects of legislation in Parliament. Subject to parliamentary scrutiny, the decisions will therefore be implemented on 1 December 2012. You can view the FITs order 2012 on the legislation website. A draft of the modifications to the standard conditions of electricity supply licences can be found on the DECC website. Ofgem will release updates to their guidance on their website in due course. You may also like to know that we release updated statistics relating to the FITs scheme on the DECC website each week. Information about the degression policy can be viewed on the DECC and Ofgem websites." |
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