The impact of the GB Feed-in Tariffs and Renewable Heat Incentive to the Economics of Various Microgeneration Technologies at the Street Level

摘要

England, Scotland and Wales planning regulations require zero carbon homes by 2016. This can be expected to accelerate the uptake of microgeneration technologies. To incentivise small low-carbon generators the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) proposed two new systems: the Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). This paper investigates the impact of these two systems on the carbon performance and the economics of various microgeneration technologies under two scenarios: (a) at the single dwelling level and (b) a local microgrid at the street level. The economic implications of combining a number of houses to form a local microgrid are assessed and expressed in terms of percentage of capital investment outstanding. The paper concludes that the current structure of the FIT and RHI does not incentivise microgeneration technologies according to their carbon performance and does not favour street-level schemes such as the one investigated in this paper. However it is sufficient to drive the market forward.