The review is to be completed by the end of the year, and the tariffs are expected to remain unchanged through April 2012, regardless of its findings.
But the move has prompted a backlash from the local governments who say the planned review of FITs will surely stymie widespread adoption of renewable energy.
“They will never achieve the goal of lowering the cost of the technology in the long-term by cutting the tariff so early on,” said Tim German, renewable energy manager for Cornwall County. “It has only been running for a few months. They are giving with one hand and taking away with the other.
“The Government say they want the community to lead on this but this move goes against the grain of localism. It indicates a certain amount of backdoor-ism,” German said.
Over the past six months, the Cornwall County Council has approved five solar farms capable of producing 5 MW of energy and is currently considering applications for 20 more.
According to Huhne there is growing evidence showing large scale solar farms could soak up money intended to help homes, communities and small businesses generate their own electricity.
But Huhne, a Liberal Democratic minister in Britain’s coalition government, also believes the review will pave the way for fast tracking planning for the same big solar parks and farm-scale Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants.
Only two AD projects have been accredited by the Government so far and Huhne said he would like to see that number grow more rapidly.
The comprehensive FITs review will assess all aspects of the scheme including tariff levels, administration and eligibility of technologies, and fast track consideration of large scale solar projects (over 50kW) with a view to making any resulting changes to tariffs as soon as practical, subject to consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny as required by the Energy Act 2008.
Since FITs started more than 21,000 green building improvements, including solar panels, wind turbines and microhydro plants, have been built with the vast majority of these on private homes, according to the government.
“The renewables industry is a vital piece in the green growth jigsaw and this review will provide long term certainty while making sure homes, communities and small firms are encouraged to produce their own green electricity,” Huhne said.
“Large scale solar installations weren't anticipated under the FITs scheme we inherited and I'm concerned this could mean that money meant for people who want to produce their own green electricity has the potential to be directed towards large scale commercial solar projects,” he added.
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