LONDON, UK , March 28, 2007.
Funding for the residential installation of solar panels and small wind turbines received an increase of 50% in the UK budget.
The £6 million of additional funding under the Low Carbon Building Programme will support homeowners who want to install microgeneration systems, explains the Department of Trade & Industry. The scheme will be re-structured and has been suspended while officials refine the sector to ensure that it “can stand on its own two feet without further subsidy.”
“With this extra £6 million, there is now £18 million for homeowners who want to go low carbon,” says industry secretary Alistair Darling. “There has been exceptional demand for grants under the Low Carbon Building Programme; we are backing it but there have been problems in meeting that unprecedented demand. We will re-structure the scheme to make it work better.”
The new scheme will be announced in May.
Consultations will be held this spring to determine how microgeneration can be included within the Energy Efficiency Commitment as a measure energy suppliers can provide to their customers to meet their commitments, the budget commits, which also announced an intention to offer all homeowners help with introducing energy efficient measures to achieve energy efficiency potential by 2020. The budget also waived income tax on any surplus electricity sold back to the grid by microgenerators and will “add up to a major focus on reducing carbon emissions from our homes,” it notes.
Funding of £100 million was allocated to UK innovation under the collaborative R&D competition, and will provide £40 million for advanced manufacturing projects including design engineering technology to boost competitiveness and sustainability in the energy sector and £15 million for energy technologies (both renewable low-carbon options).
“Climate change is a global issue and, as well as encouraging action at home, this budget will help cut carbon emissions internationally,” adds environment secretary David Miliband. “The new measures will encourage individuals, business and Government to reduce carbon emissions from homes, transport, energy use and waste.”
Other green finance measures in the budget include exemption of Stamp duty for zero carbon homes, further use of Vehicle Excise Duty to provide an incentive for the purchase of low carbon cars, phasing out of high-energy light bulbs in the UK by 2011 and incentives for biofuel development and use.
The UK government will set out its policy on carbon emissions from the energy sector in coming months in its Energy White Paper. Its recent draft Climate Change Bill sets targets for reducing carbon emissions by 60% by 2050 by investing in low-carbon technologies such as wind, wave and solar power.
