Solar panels 'most popular form of cheap energy generation' - 04/10/2010
Consumers took advantage of the government's small-scale feed-in tariff scheme (FiT) to invest in 2,771 installations to receive cheap energy between April 1st and June 30th, official data has revealed.
Figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that solar photovoltaic projects comprised 97.6 per cent of the total approved installations in the first quarter of the scheme's existence.
The scheme is designed to offer homeowners the chance to take up renewable and low-carbon electricity generation technologies that they can use at home to receive cheap energy.
Energy suppliers then pay a tariff to each participating household for generating electricity and some consumers will be paid more for exporting surplus energy to the national grid.
Four non-domestic hydro installations were set up under FiT, representing 3.3 MW of capacity - 22 per cent of the 15.2 MW of total capacity.
The news comes after the chiefs of more than 60 renewable energy companies signed an open letter calling on the government not to cut funds to FiT because this would "cause investors to flee" the micro energy generation sector, Business Green reported.
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