UPDATE 22-Oct-15: The NFU has now responded to this DECC consultation. Members can read our submission here (you'll need to log-in).
Since 2010, the FiTs scheme has offered attractive low-risk support for farmers, SMEs and householders to invest in solar, wind, hydro and AD projects.
Some 3,800 megawatts of generating capacity has been deployed - almost as much as Drax power station in Yorkshire.
Solar PV has dominated the scheme. Along with 700 small hydro plants and 7,000 small/medium wind turbines, there are 700,000 domestic solar rooftops and about 500 megawatts of on-farm power from over 10,000 solar barn roofs.
We need you!
Your views are urgently required - to help shape the NFU's response to this consultation, to send directly to DECC, or perhaps communicated through your MP.
This 8-week consultation closes on 23rd October at midday. Read the DECC consultation document here and the NFU's quick guide to the consultation here (opens in a new window).
Send any comments or suggestions to am9uYXRoYW4uc2N1cmxvY2tAbmZ1Lm9yZy51aw== by 16th October - please include NFU membership no. in the subject line.
Initial thoughts...
The NFU is disappointed to see tariff reductions of up to 87% proposed - measures that will be detrimental to many farmers who have helped to build up Britain's clean energy capacity, while building in much-needed resilience for their farm businesses against volatility in food commodity markets.
We are puzzled that these cuts will fall particularly heavily on rooftop solar - a popular farm option that Government has previously said it wishes to encourage. Worse still, the Department of Energy and Climate Change threatens to effectively close the scheme altogether if the current boom continues - a self-defeating proposal that is quite the reverse of the consistent low-carbon energy policy that the NFU has been calling for. We are very concerned that many NFU members may now be excluded from the market in 2016, although some are already moving towards economic viability without subsidy.