§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement about the sale price of photovoltaic energy for national grid purposes; and how this price compares with those in other EU member states. [14372]
760W
§ Mr. WilsonIn our liberalised energy market, the price paid to generators for electricity, including electricity from photovoltaics (PV), is a matter for negotiation between the generator and the supplier, and is subject to market fluctuation. We therefore have only limited and anecdotal information about prices paid to generators for PV energy. The best price recently mentioned to the Department has been 6.5p per kilowatt hour paid by a company offering a "net metering" deal, that is a deal in which the supplier buys PV energy from generators at the same price that they would charge them for electricity purchases. The best price obtainable at any time will vary with the market.
Some European countries have taken steps to encourage net metering, and some, notably Germany and Spain, have gone further by legislating for the utilities to pay renewable generators a premium price for all the electricity they wish to export to the network. In the case of PV, this is about 33p per kilowatt hour in Germany and 25p per kilowatt hour in Spain.
The Government are encouraging the uptake of PV in the UK through both domestic and large-scale field trials, soon to be followed by a major PV demonstration programme to rival the German and Japanese PV roofs programme. It is also working to overcome infrastructural barriers through simplified grid-connection, fairer tariffs and more positive planning guidance.