Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 5TH - 11TH JULY 2019 | 15 Policy & Regulation "If you've got a modern digital platform that's scalable and built in the cloud, the kind of processing you need to do is not mas- sively challenging." New tech, old tech Because of legacy systems, the STA's Greene expects there to be some "pretty tokenistic o• ers", at least to begin with. "If you read the response to the consultation, the govern- ment says there are suppliers who say they simply cannot get their systems ready for a matter of years rather than months." She says the situation could be improved by enabling generators to access export tar- i• s from parties other than their supplier. "You could get competition both on who you are buying from and selling to," she says. "We'd really like to see aggregators coming into the market." At the moment, third parties are unable to access smart meter data through the Data Communications Company. Greene says the government has suggested this issue will be resolved over the coming years. "We very much hope that's the case," she adds. "I sus- pect there's a bit more to it than that." She has other concerns too. The govern- ment has decided against creating a central register for installations supported by the SEG, as there currently is for the feed-in tar- i• scheme. Greene says this will leave the industry blind: "That's another worry for us; actually being able to assess the e† cacy of the policy decisions and the impact of some very major changes." Some may be picked up through the Microgeneration Certi‰ cation Scheme and the government's central planning data- base. However, they only cover installations of certain sizes and accreditation under the scheme is not mandated as part of the SEG, only encouraged. "The biggest markets in Europe tend to be the large industrial and commercial rooŒ ops," Greene explains. "And you've got permitted development there with a pretty minimal noti‰ cation approve process. "This has been going on for many, many months now and we've yet to see a satisfac- tory methodology coming out of it." The Renewable Energy Association's Gor- don says this issue highlights a wider prob- lem: "As we move to subsidy-free projects, we won't have any way of knowing where solar and other distributed energy resources are being put in. "The SEG could have been an opportunity to start addressing that by having a central database. It's disappointing that we may lose track of where future small-scale renewable installations are being put in." She says support for storage would help stimulate the market, particularly because the government is hiking the VAT rate for some solar and storage installations. For now they can only wait to see whether it will all pan out. "We are a little bit concerned but the proof is going to be in the pudding," says Greene. "It really is all eyes on the o• ers that are going to come forward." 0 2 4 6 8 Jan Apr Jul Oct 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 UK solar capacity (GW) 25MW+ 5-25 MW 50 kW-5 MW 10-50 kW 4-10 kW 0-4 kW Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr 10 12 14 UK SOLAR CAPACITY BY DEPLOYMENT, UPDATED MONTHLY Source: BEIS Note: the feed-in tariff was open to installations up to 5MW "We welcome the opportunity to buy cheap local energy, pay customers a good price for it and then sell it cheaply elsewhere." Greg Jackson, chief executive, Octopus Energy "Households are in a very vulnerable position. They've very, very small. They're not in any posi- tion to negotiate. We felt that government should mandate a minimum price." Léonie Greene, director of advocacy and new markets, Solar Trade Association "As we move to subsidy-free projects, we won't have any way of knowing where solar and other distributed energy resources are being put in." Frank Gordon, head of policy, Renewable Energy Association

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