The Feed-in Tariffs Order 2012

Made: 6th November 2012

Laid before Parliament: 8th November 2012

Coming into force: 1st December 2012

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 41(4), 43(3)(a), and 104(2) of the Energy Act 2008 , makes the following Order:

PART 1 — Introductory provisions

Citation and commencement

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This Order may be cited as the Feed-in Tariffs Order 2012 and comes into force on 1st December 2012.

Interpretation

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• (1) In this Order—

• “the Act” means the Energy Act 2008;

• “the 1989 Act” means the Electricity Act 1989 ;

• “accreditation” means approval by the Authority of an eligible installation as an accredited FIT installation under Part 3, unless the context otherwise requires;

• “accredited FIT installation” means an eligible installation which has been given accreditation;

• “anaerobic digestion” means the bacterial fermentation of organic material in the absence of free oxygen (excluding anaerobic digestion of sewage and material in a landfill);

• “the Authority” means the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority;

• “central FIT register” means the register kept and maintained by the Authority in accordance with article 21;

• “commissioning date”, in relation to an installation, means the date on which the installation is commissioned;

• “community energy installation” has the meaning given in article 11;

• “community organisation” has the meaning given in article 11;

• “deemed export payment” means the payment made to a FIT generator or nominated recipient by a FIT licensee in respect of a deemed export of electricity;

• “distribution system” has the same meaning as in section 4(4) of the 1989 Act ;

• “electricity supply licence” means a licence granted by the Authority under section 6(1)(d) of the 1989 Act;

• “energy performance certificate” has the same meaning as in— the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012; in relation to a building in England or Wales; andthe Energy Performance of Buildings (Scotland) Regulations 2008 , in relation to a building in Scotland;

• “extension” means an increase in the capacity of an installation to generate electricity;

• “FIT” means feed-in tariff;

• “grant from public funds” means a grant made by a public authority or by any person distributing funds on behalf of a public authority;

• “grid connection” means a connection between a generating installation and a transmission system or distribution system for the purpose of enabling electricity to be conveyed from the installation to that system;

• “hydro generating station” means a generating installation driven by water, except for such an installation—driven by waves, ocean currents or geothermal sources;driven by tidal flows, unless also driven partly by non-tidal flows from a water course; orwhere the hydrostatic head of the water has been increased by pumping;

• “levelisation fund” means the fund maintained under article 25;

• “licensee” means a person who is a holder of a licence under section 6(1)(d) of the 1989 Act;

• “MCS”, except in Schedule A1, means the Microgeneration Certification Scheme or equivalent schemes accredited in accordance with EN 45011(2) or EN ISO/IEC 17065:2012(3) which certify microgeneration products and installers in accordance with consistent standards;

• “MCS certificate” means a certificate given under the MCS;

• “MCS-certified installation” has the meaning set out in Schedule A1 to this Order;

• “mutualisation distribution”, “mutualisation notice” and “mutualisation payment” have the meaning given by article 30A(3);

• “pause period” has the meaning given in article 8A;

• “ROO” means the Renewables Obligation Order 2009 in relation to an installation in England and Wales, and the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Order 2009 in relation to an installation in Scotland;

• “school installation” has the meaning given in article 12;

• “Standard Licence Condition 33” and “Standard Licence Condition 34” mean the conditions so numbered in the standard conditions of electricity supply licences ;

• “tariff code” has the meaning given in article 13;

• ...

• “transmission system” has the same meaning as in section 4(4) of the 1989 Act .

• “working day” means any day other than a Saturday or a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a day which is a bank holiday within the meaning of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971.

• (2) In this Order the following expressions have the meanings given to them in Schedule A to Standard Licence Condition 33—

• “commissioned”;

• “confirmation date”;

• “declared net capacity”;

• “deemed export”;

• “eligibility date”;

• “eligible installation”;

• “eligible low-carbon energy source”;

• “energy efficiency requirement”;

• “export”;

• “export meter”;

• “export payment”;

• “export tariff”;

• “FIT generator”;

• “FIT licensee”;

• “FIT notification”;

• “FIT payments”;

• “FIT scheme”;

• “FIT year”;

• “generation meter”;

• “generation meter reading”;

• “generation payment”;

• “generation tariff”;

• “insolvency event”

• “mandatory FIT licensee”

• ...

• “MCS-certified registration”;

• “MCS-FIT technology”;

• “nominated recipient”;

• “qualifies for accreditation;”

• “statement of FIT terms”;

• “tariff date”;

• “tariff period”;

• “total installed capacity”.

• “voluntary FIT licensee”

• (3) In this Order—

• “last resort supply direction” has the meaning given to it in the standard conditions of electricity supply licences; and

• “stand-alone solar photovoltaic” has the meaning given to it in Annex 3 to Schedule A to Standard Licence Condition 33 of the standard conditions of electricity supply licences.

• (4) In this Order, a reference to a particular description of eligible installations is a reference to eligible installations of one of the descriptions in the first column of the table in Schedule 1A.

PART 2 — Specified maximum capacity

Specified maximum capacity

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The specified maximum capacity of eligible installations is 5 megawatts of total installed capacity.

PART 3 — Accreditation and matters relating to accreditation

CHAPTER 1 — Accreditation

Application of this Chapter

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• (1) This Chapter applies where an application has been made which meets the conditions in paragraph (2) or (3).

• (2) The conditions in this paragraph are that—

• (a) an application has been made to the Authority for accreditation of an eligible installation which—

• (i) uses anaerobic digestion;

• (ii) is a hydro generating station; or

• (iii) uses any other eligible low-carbon energy source, and has a declared net capacity of more than 50 kilowatts; and

• (b) at least one of the following applies—

• (i) the installation was commissioned before the application was made;

• (ii) the installation has been granted preliminary accreditation, and the application for accreditation was made within the period of validity of that preliminary accreditation; ...

• (iii) the application is within paragraph (1)(a) of article 8D (transitional installations) ; or

• (iv) article 7B applies to the installation.

• (3) The conditions in this paragraph are that—

• (a) an application, other than an excluded transitional application, has been made to a FIT licensee for FIT payments for an eligible installation which uses an MCS-FIT technology;

• (b) the FIT licensee has submitted details of the installation to the Authority for accreditation under the process for MCS-certified registration; and

• (c) not less than two weeks have passed since the date on which the installation’s MCS certificate was issued.

• (4) In paragraph (3)(a), “an excluded transitional application” means an application which—

• (a) is made to a FIT licensee on or after 1st April 2016; and

• (b) would have been within article 8D(1)(b) if it had been made to a FIT licensee between 15th January and 31st March 2016.

Accreditation of eligible installations

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• (1) The Authority must carry out accreditation as provided by this article.

• (1A) The Authority must, subject to paragraph (1B)—

• (a) determine whether to accredit eligible installations of a particular description which meet the conditions in article 4(2) in the order in which applications for accreditation of such installations are received by the Authority; and

• (b) determine whether to accredit eligible installations of a particular description which meet the conditions in article 4(3) in the order in which the installations’ MCS certificates were issued.

• (1B) Paragraph (1A)(a) does not apply to eligible installations—

• (a) that have been granted preliminary accreditation and in respect of which an application for accreditation is made within the period of validity of that preliminary accreditation; ...

• (b) to which article 8D (transitional installations) applies. ; or

• (c) to which article 7B applies.

• (2) The Authority must accredit an eligible installation if article 6 is satisfied but must not do so—

• (a) if article 7 , 7A(1) or 8 applies;

• (b) during the pause period, if article 8A applies; or

• (c) in a particular tariff period, if article 8B applies in relation to that tariff period and particular description of eligible installation.

• (3) Where the Authority accredits an eligible installation, it may attach such conditions as it considers appropriate.

• (4) Where the Authority accredits an eligible installation, it must—

• (a) update the central FIT register;

• (b) in the case of an eligible installation accredited further to an application mentioned in article 4(2), give notice to the person who made that application of the accreditation and any conditions attached to it; and

• (c) in the case of an eligible installation accredited further to an application mentioned in article 4(3), give notice to the FIT licensee of the accreditation and any conditions attached to it.

• (5) Where the Authority determines that an installation is not entitled to accreditation, it must—

• (a) in the case of an application mentioned in article 4(2), give notice of its decision to the person who made that application; and

• (b) in the case of an application mentioned in article 4(3), give notice of its decision to the FIT licensee.

• (6) A notice given under paragraph (5) must include reasons why the installation was not accredited , and, where the reason for the non-accreditation is that article 8B applies, give notice of the date of the start of the next tariff period , if any, within which the application will be considered by the Authority in accordance with this article.

Accreditation of eligible installations not previously accredited under the ROO

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• (1) Subject to articles 7 , 7A, 8, 8A and 8B, the Authority must accredit an eligible installation as an accredited FIT installation if it is satisfied that—

• (a) where it has a declared net capacity of more than 50 kilowatts, it would receive accreditation under the ROO were an application to be made for such accreditation; or

• (b) where it has a declared net capacity of 50 kilowatts or less, the installation meets the criteria in paragraph (2) or the criteria in paragraph (3).

• (2) The criteria in this paragraph are that the eligible installation—

• (a) uses an MCS-FIT technology;

• (b) was first commissioned after 15th July 2009; and

• (c) has been submitted by a FIT licensee for accreditation under the process for MCS-certified registration.

• (3) The criteria in this paragraph are that—

• (a) the eligible installation—

• (i) is a hydro generating station; or

• (ii) uses anaerobic digestion; and

• (b) were the installation to have a declared net capacity of more than 50 kilowatts, it would receive accreditation under the ROO were an application to be made for such accreditation.

Exceptions to accreditation applicable to all eligible installations

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• (1) The Authority must not accredit an eligible installation as an accredited FIT installation where—

• (a) the installation has a total installed capacity which exceeds the specified maximum capacity;

• (b) the installation is an extension to—

• (i) an accredited FIT installation; or

• (ii) another installation using an eligible low-carbon energy source,

and the aggregate total installed capacity of the extension and the installation referred to in paragraph (i) or (ii) exceeds the specified maximum capacity; or

• (c) electricity from the installation is or has been sold pursuant to a NFFO arrangement.

• (2) The Authority must not accredit an eligible installation as an accredited FIT installation where it has good reason to believe that any generating equipment used at the installation has formed part of an installation previously accredited—

• (a) under the ROO; or

• (b) under this Part.

• (3) Subject to paragraph (4) and to article 40(3), the Authority must not accredit an eligible installation as an accredited FIT installation unless the FIT generator has given notice to the Authority that—

• (a) no grant from public funds has been made in respect of any of the costs of purchasing or installing the installation; or

• (b) where any such grant has been made, the grant has been repaid to the person or authority which made it.

• (4) Paragraph (3) does not prohibit the Authority from accrediting an eligible installation where a grant referred to in paragraph (3) has been made and not repaid if the grant is a permitted grant.

• (5) In this article—

• “NFFO arrangement” has the meaning given to it in the ROO; and

• “permitted grant” means a grant made in respect of the reasonable additional costs of an installation to avoid or mitigate environmental harm, where the amount of the grant does not exceed the amount of those costs.

Limit on numbers of eligible installations using combined heat and power

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• (1) Paragraph (3) applies once the Authority has accredited 30,000 relevant eligible installations.

• (2) “Relevant eligible installation” means an installation which—

• (a) uses combined heat and power as an eligible low-carbon energy source; and

• (b) is powered by fossil fuel.

• (3) Where this paragraph applies, the Authority must not accredit any more relevant eligible installations.

• (4) In this article, “fossil fuel” has the meaning given to it by section 100(3) of the Act.

CHAPTER 2 — Preliminary accreditation and pre-registration

Preliminary accreditation

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• (1) This article applies where a person (“the prospective FIT generator”)—

• (a) proposes to construct or operate an eligible installation (other than an extension) which, when commissioned, will—

• (i) use anaerobic digestion;

• (ii) be a hydro generating station; or

• (iii) be a wind or solar photovoltaic installation, and have a declared net capacity of more than 50 kilowatts; and

• (b) makes an application in writing to the Authority for preliminary accreditation, which is received by the Authority on or before 30th September 2015 or on or after 8th February 2016 but on or before 31st March 2019.

• (2) Subject to article 8B, the Authority must, upon receiving the application referred to in paragraph (1)(b), grant preliminary accreditation in respect of that installation if the Authority is satisfied that—

• (a) the conditions in paragraphs (3) and (4) are met; and

• (b) the installation would, if commissioned, receive accreditation under Chapter 1 of this Part were an application to be made for such accreditation and, for this purpose, applications for preliminary accreditation are to be considered under article 5(1A)(a) in the same way as applications for the accreditation of eligible installations mentioned in that sub-paragraph.

• (3) The conditions in this paragraph are that the application for preliminary accreditation—

• (a) specifies—

• (i) the eligible low-carbon energy source to be used by the installation;

• (ii) the total installed capacity and declared net capacity of the installation;

• (iii) the location of the installation;

• (iv) whether the installation is to have a grid connection;

• (v) where the installation will be a solar photovoltaic installation with a total installed capacity of 250kW or more, whether or not the installation will be stand-alone solar photovoltaic;

• (vi) whether or not the installation will be owned by a community organisation;

• (b) is accompanied by documentary evidence, issued on or before the date of the application, of the satisfaction of the conditions in paragraph (4); and

• (c) includes such other information as may be required by the Authority.

• (4) The conditions in this paragraph are that—

• (a) either—

• (i) planning permission has been granted for the installation on or before the date of the application for preliminary accreditation; or

• (ii) the Authority is satisfied that planning permission is not required for the installation;