18/01/2012

EPC requirements: Will you make the grade?

On October 31 2011 the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced Phase 1 of its consultation on feed-in tariffs, which revealed a 50 percent reduction to the current incentive rates for solar photovoltaics. While most of the post-consultation coverage focused on these cuts, a lot of our readers have also expressed concern over the new potential EPC requirements.

As well as reducing the feed-in tariff rates for solar in order to bring down the high rates of return, DECC has also announced its intention to make energy efficiency measures part of the requirement when installing a photovoltaics system in the UK.

“We want to ensure that solar PV is considered as part of a holistic approach to carbon reductions in buildings that prioritises energy efficiency,” the Department states.

Government’s proposal is that all new solar PV installations attached to or wired to provide electricity to a building, with an eligibility date on or after April 1 next year, will only be eligible for the newly proposed tariffs if the owner of the system can demonstrate that the building to which the installation is attached meets a certain level of energy efficiency. If the FiT generator is not able to demonstrate this, then the installation will be eligible for a lower tariff of just 9p/kWh.

These new requirements have prompted a fair amount of industry backlash as many believe that renewable energy generation and energy efficiency should not be put inside the same brackets since PV installations generate electricity, not heat.

Much of the criticism of this proposal has centred on the argument that a large portion of the UK’s housing stock is just not capable of reaching a certain energy requirement. Yet, what many have not picked up on is that there are two options DECC is consulting on, and which it is seeking view on. The consultation asks whether those installing PV should have to:

• Bring the property up to an EPC rating of level C or above; or

• Undertake all the measures that are identified on an EPC as potentially eligible for Green Deal finance.

Either of these would apply to any solar PV installation attached to or wired to provide electricity to a building with an eligibility date on or after April 1 2012.