Abstract for:Cautious feed-in-tariff for promoting PV generation in the UK residential sector

This paper assesses the arguable cautious policy that has been adopted in the UK residential sector for promoting PV power generation, consumption and sales. As residential solar technology is reaching grid parity, the need and extent for continuing subsidies may be reconsidered. Consistent with this, as feed-in-tariff, the chosen mechanism to promote solar Photovoltaic (PV) in the UK, is being reduced, this raises questions about the future of the policy. This paper aims at identifying the emerging threats and opportunities related to solar penetration at the household level for electricity utilities in a post-grid parity scenario – where feed-in tariff is reduced. With the support of simulation, this paper finds that subsidy cuts reduce both PV growth and benefits for solar companies, though there is still market potential for this technology. Additionally, this also promotes the adoption of PV-battery systems to maximize self-consumption. In these conditions, electricity distribution will turn much more competitive and distributed generation more frequent.