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Future PV grant levels in danger as UK announces latest winners
On Nov. 27, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced
second-round grants for 19 projects representing 435 kW as part of its
£20 million ($31.2 million) Major Demonstration Programme (MDP). While
£2.2 million ($3.4 million) was promised, 44 applications valued at
just above £9 million ($14 million) were received, slightly less than
the DTI's available budget through June 2005.
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Department of Trade and Industry |
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No. 1: The first system in the UK's Major
Demonstration Programme, installed by Solar Century in
June, should be followed by 2,999 more. |
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But despite the program's popularity, it could be cut.
With installed costs of around £7 ($10.90) per watt, compared to DTI's
initial target of £6 ($9.35) per watt, a high-level program official,
who asked that his name not be used, says the grant amounts may need
to be reduced »to make our money go further.«
Currently, subsidies of up to 50 percent are available for systems
below 5 kW, and distributed in an ongoing process. Grants for projects
from 5 kW to 100 kW, awarded every three months, are limited to 40
percent for commercial installations by European Commission state aid
rules, but they can be as high as 65 percent for public projects.
According to the source, the latter have accounted for almost all of
the applications so far. The DTI and the Energy Saving Trust (EST),
the agency contracted to administer the MDP, will most likely review
funding levels at the end of the program's first year in April.
First-round grants for eight systems totaling 350 kW were made in
August (see PI 9/2002, p. 8), but no figures were available for the
current installed capacity.
As part of the second round, BP Solar will install three of the
projects, including the largest, a 140 kW system on a car park in
Victoria, London, although only 100 kW is covered by the grant. The
installed capacity of its modules, which will also be used on four
other projects, will total 280 kW. London-based PV integrator Solar
Century will install seven projects worth 86 kW, mostly using
Uni-Solar triple-junction a-Si thin-film modules. The third-round
deadline is Jan. 24, with winning projects to be announced in the
latter part of February. The fourth-round deadline will probably be in
mid-April.
The MDP wants to put in 3,000 systems, far short of the ten-year,
70,000 roofs program discussed by Prime Minister Tony Blair's Cabinet
two years ago (see PI 3/2001, p. 13). According to a UK PV industry
source, leading up to a white paper on renewable energy policy planned
for February, the prime minister's Strategy Office (formerly Policy
and Innovation Unit) will publish a consultation paper that's
favorable to solar. Sarah Cooke, head of the office's Energy Security
Supply Project, declined to confirm this.
For more information on bidding for the UK's PV program, go to:
www.est.org.uk/solar
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