Rooftop solar-generated electricity has the potential to achieve parity with retail electricity prices according to a new report from the Solar Trade Association. ‘Solar Independence Plan for Britain’ also says utility-scale solar farms could be on par with new gas CCGT power station prices.
The report looks at several different scenarios and recommends the Government adopt a Higher Ambition scenario with a target of 25GW by 2020. If adopted, the Plan could see 2.1 million solar homes, 24,000 commercial rooftop and community schemes, 2300 good quality solar farms, and almost 57,000 jobs in solar and its supply chains.
Achieving this breakthrough would in 2020 only cost households around £13 per year. The STA modeling behind the plan has been independently verified by experts from Imperial College London and jobs estimates were provided by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
The STA’s recommended policy steps include adjusting the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) in the forthcoming review to allow more growth and gradually bring tariffs for new installations down to zero by 2020. The STA is also seeking to ensure the Renewables Obligation is safeguarded for big rooftops and smaller solar farms until March 2017, and that barriers to the grid are addressed decisively.
