Micro-renewable Energy

Gregory Barker
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry why household grants for all micro-renewable energy systems will be ended in 2008.

Malcolm Wicks
We announced on 25 October 2006 that we would be re-allocating £6.2 million of the total £28.5 million funding to the household stream, giving a total pot of £12.7 million. On projected demand levels this should allow householder funding to continue until June 2008. By this time, some of our wider measures to promote microgeneration should be taking hold, and we believe the sector may have matured to a point where householder grants are no longer necessary.

Gregory Barker
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures in the Government's micro-generation strategy will provide, from summer 2008, capital support to a householder wishing to install micro-generation equipment equivalent to the current grant levels available under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme.

Malcolm Wicks
The aim of the microgeneration strategy is to create conditions where microgeneration becomes a realistic alternative generation source of heat and/or electricity. This will be achieved when costs are reduced and awareness of these technologies is widespread. The low carbon buildings programme is currently helping to reduce the upfront costs of microgeneration installations, and, to complement this, the measures in the strategy are aimed at stimulating widespread demand to help achieve the economies of scale that will lead to costs falling and negate the need for capital grants. Key measures that will help to achieve this include:

Making it easier for microgenerators to access renewable obligation certificates

Working with energy suppliers to ensure that microgenerators receive a fair reward for exported electricity

A robust accreditation scheme (to build trust in the industry)

Local authorities requiring new developments to source a percentage of energy requirements from onsite renewable sources (whilst not in the strategy itself, the Housing Minister made a statement that she expected all local authorities to develop such requirements following work undertaken in relation to the strategy)

The removal of unnecessary controls in the consents regime (which regulates a wide range of developments by householders).

More detail can be found in the microgeneration strategy itself at:

http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/souurces/sustainable/microgeneration/strategy/page27594.html