31 October 2008 | Luca Del Buono

 

Britain says it wants to guarantee a price premium for small producers of renewable power, for example from the wind and sun, from 2010.

The government included the proposals in amendments tabled Wednesday to an energy bill being debated and due to pass into law by December this year.

The plan would support households and communities which install solar panels or small wind turbines on their property.

They would earn a feed-in tariff, which guarantees a price premium for supplying electricity from renewable sources into the national grid.

"We hope to have it available by 2010," said a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change Thursday.

Britain's present price support, or renewables obligation (RO), is considered complicated and bureaucratic for small producers, and will be replaced by a feed-in tariff for microgeneration of renewable electricity up to 3 megawatts (MW) - enough to power about 1,500 homes.

The 3 MW cut-off would make feed-in tariffs available for schools, hospitals and communities as well as households.

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