Jobs and investment in Scotland are at risk as a result of the closure of a UK Government green energy subsidy scheme for small scale projects, Scottish Renewables has warned.
Scottish Renewables said new figures show the scale of the sector endangered by the cut off of new applications for the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme on 31 March.
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It explained that changes will hit the sector which has installed the equivalent of 360,000 solar panels in Scotland every year since 2010. Those panels would make up 22,500 standard household solar power systems, worth £150 million.
More than 700MW of small green power schemes have been installed by homeowners and businesses since the start of the FiT in 2010, according to analysis by Scottish Renewables.
Those taking part are paid per unit for surplus electricity they generate.
It found that communities have invested heavily in green power projects under FiT, installing 16 hydropower, 70 wind and 118 solar PV systems across Scotland.
Currently, small-scale renewable energy projects like these require government support, as well as a way to sell the power they produce. The end of FiT will make financing those projects difficult, meaning the future for the sector “remains bleak”, according to Scottish Renewables.
Hannah Smith, senior policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said the scheme, through which household and business-scale green energy is backed, has been “tremendously important in supporting small-scale renewables, community-owned energy and the smarter, cleaner energy system which we need to fight climate change”.
She added: “Small-scale renewable energy has produced enormous benefits for the UK – it’s allowed homeowners, businesses and communities to take control of their energy supply, reducing their bills and carbon emissions.
“The end of the Feed-in Tariff at the end of this month will mean, at best, a period of enormous uncertainty for the companies that install these projects and for the people who work for them.”
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Scottish Renewables said businesses already hit by cuts to support provided by the FiT included Glasgow-based Gaia-Wind which went into administration in March last year.
Government is currently considering how small renewable energy schemes will be paid for the electricity they generate in future through a new ‘Smart Export Guarantee’ scheme.
