Eco-Schools Solar Programme 
and the impact of the Government Review of the Feed-in-Tariff for Solar Energy

As you’re aware, the Eco-Schools Solar Programme: Free Power for Schools offers all schools in England a chance to have solar panels on their roofs; and has been heralded as the best offer in the market.

But, the Eco-Schools Solar Programme is at risk as a direct result of the government announcement that the feed-in-tariff is likely to reduce by over 50% from 12th December 2011.

The financial support that allows us to offer free panels is only viable at the current rate of tariff, and between now and 12th December we simply will not have the necessary time to install solar panels on all of the Eco-Schools taking part in our Solar Programme.

This means that many of our Eco-Schools are going to miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity.

As a result, we are calling on all schools - the teachers, pupil’s and parents - to lobby the government and get this decision changed.

Eco-Schools are asking the government to:

a) Defer the introduction of the reduction in feed-in-tariff for all schools until 1st April 2012
b) From 1st April 2012 to introduce a more reasonable Feed-in Tariff for solar installations on schools and public buildings

You can support us by following this link to our solar e-petition and signing up to our campaign.

If we raise 100,000 supporters to the petition we can force a debate in the House of Commons.

It is incredibly disappointing that the government has chosen to make this change given the fantastic scheme we have been able to offer schools up to now. As a reminder some of the key benefits includes:

• Free solar panels (which can cost up to £125,000 for a 50kW installation) – leading to reduced energy bills
• Surplus electricity can be sold back into the grid with all proceeds being retained by the school
• A free Display Energy Certificate (DEC) for five years, which can normally cost a school up to £3,000
• A display system showing the power generated and carbon saved
• An opportunity to enhance their profile with Ofsted by having a learner-centred development strategy and implementation plan based around solar panels
• An opportunity to link solar power with learning opportunities as part of a school’s Eco-Schools award
• An opportunity to qualify for a Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Energy Award by achieving reductions in carbon emissions above ten per cent

Our scheme also has the support of a key government minister, as earlier this year, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said:

‘I’m delighted that Keep Britain Tidy’s Eco-Schools programme has had 1,600 schools sign up to its solar scheme. These schools will be able to show their pupils that putting theory into practice is possible while at the same time reducing the school’s energy bills.’