Feed-in Tariff (FiT) installations increased during the first quarter of 2019 as households looked to take advantage of the scheme before it was scrapped.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has released figures for monthly FiT commissioned installations up to 31 March 2019, when the scheme closed to new applicants.
Provisional figures show overall FiT scale deployment at the end of March was 6,609MW, following a total of 985,699 installations.
This represented a 4 per cent increase in total FiT installed capacity and a 6 per cent increase in the number of installations compared to the same period the previous year.
Photovoltaics (PV) were responsible for 91 per cent of growth in capacity. There was little change in the past year as the highest growth rate was seen in PV, which was up 5 per cent to 5,336MW.
Wind installations increased by 3 per cent to 753MW, and hydro increased by 1 per cent to 225MW.
During Q1 2019, provisional data shows 119MW of capacity was installed, across 24,226 installations. PV accounted for 99.6 per cent of these installations, while wind, anaerobic digestion and hydro amounted to just 58 installations.
By the end of March, PV installations represented 81 per cent of total installed capacity (5,336MW) and 99 per cent of the total number of installations (975,286).
The industry initially experienced a rapid increase in PV installations at the start of the FiT tariff scheme. However, this trend slowed after August 2012 following tariff reductions.
For Q1 2019, PV installations between 4kW and 10kW had a 20 per cent increase in installed capacity (to 222 MW) and 26 per cent increase in installations (30,537) compared to the same period in 2018.
Wind was the second largest technology representing 11 per cent of total installed capacity (753 MW) and 1 per cent of installations (8,004).
A spokesperson for the Solar Trade Association said: “We are pleased, and not surprised to see a rise in deployment of PV in the final months of the FiT, but we also know anecdotally from our members that a this will be an underestimate of total PV deployment as some commercial and new build housing systems were already being built without FiT registration.
“This trend is continuing now the scheme has closed, but it will be much harder for government to track PV numbers, particularly in the residential market. The recent Energy Data Taskforce recommended the establishment of a public Asset Register for all generation to be established by BEIS, and we are urging government to implement this as soon as possible.
“2019 will also see a modest growth of ground mount solar as some sites become economically viable. For solar to reach its true potential, however, there need to be clear decisions made by government on a fair tax and regulatory frameworks.”
In December 2018, BEIS announced plans to scrap the FiT mechanism which pays owners of small-scale renewable installations a fixed rate for each unit of electricity produced.
The government is introducing the Smart Export Guarantee on 1 January 2020, which will require all suppliers to offer an export tariff for small-scale renewables.