Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of changes to the Feed-in Tariff scheme on (a) jobs and investment opportunities, (b) renewable energy projects and (c) levels of carbon emissions; and if she will make a statement.

The Government’s consultation on the feed-in tariff review reflects the need to balance sector support whilst keeping bills down for consumers. We strongly welcomed evidence from the sector during this review consultation, which ended on 23 October.

We published an impact assessment on our proposals, which included the deployment projections for each option proposed. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-a-review-of-the-feed-in-tariff-scheme.

In order to meet our sustainable energy targets, we know we will need significant cuts in emissions across all parts of the economy. This will not depend on any single technology, but rather will need a balanced mix of low carbon technologies, including nuclear, renewables, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) in order to help tackle the threat of climate change while keeping the lights on and ensuring the best value for consumers.

The feed-in tariff scheme has been extremely successful in deploying small-scale renewables. The scheme has already exceeded our 2020/21 projections for hydro, wind, and anaerobic digestion and is within the projected range for solar PV.