Oct 30 2006
There will be £6.2 million more funding available under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) for people who want to install micro-wind turbines, solar panels and other microgeneration technologies on their homes, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks announced this week.
There has been a fantastic response to the programme since its launch in April and to help meet the demand the DTI is transferring £6.2million of the total £28.5 million phase 1 funding into the householder stream.
Phase 2 funding, which was announced by the Chancellor in the last Budget, will provide a further £50 million in grants for large-scale public sector projects and charitable organisations.
The Energy Minister highlighted the increase during a speech to the Royal Geographical Society in London. He said:
"Through the huge response to the Low Carbon Buildings Programme we have already allocated over £3m of grants to households installing microgeneration - the demand has been so great that this represents half the total household budget in only the first year of the programme.
"To enable it to continue this good work I am pleased to announce we are re-allocating a further £6.2m of the programme funding to the householder workstream. On projected demand levels this should allow us to operate the grant programme until mid 2008.
"By this time some of our wider measures to promote microgeneration should be taking hold, and we believe the sector will have matured to a point where householder grants are no longer the best use of our resources. I am keen that industry are involved in our plans and we will be discussing the details with them shortly."
This will now mean there is a total pot of £12.7 million for householder grants and DTI officials will meet with representatives from the microgeneration industry next week to discuss in more detail how the programme will operate going forward.
Welcoming the announcement, Philip Wolfe Renewable Energy Association Chief Executive said today:
"Interest in domestic scale renewables has been growing very rapidly. This is one of the cornerstones of the Government's microgeneration strategy, so it is vital that there is adequate funding to sustain the public's enthusiasm. The industry has also been working flat out to increase this sustainable energy source, and the Association has launched the REAL code of conduct to promote high standards of products and customer service in the sector."