The solar industry has experienced further recent upheaval as
the Government is again reviewing the support it gives for
renewable projects from the Renewables Obligation Scheme. The
initial intention was that there would be a gradual transition for
renewable projects to new Contracts for Difference up until March
2017.
However, at the start of this month the Department for Energy and
Climate Change announced that it would be unaffordable to keep the
RO Scheme open for large solar projects (i.e. greater than 5MW) and
so it would be closed to new projects from 1 April 2015. DECC is
offering a concession by the introduction of a "grace
period" in order to acknowledge projects where significant
financial commitments have been made subject to them having been
incurred prior to 13 May 2014. To take the benefit of such grace
periods, projects must have :
1. A grid connection offer and acceptance;
2. Confirmation of land ownership (including an option
to purchase); and
3. A planning application submitted (which cannot be
materially varied);
before 13 May 2014. Even then, those projects would then need to be
commissioned and accredited prior to 31 March 2016 to qualify for
the RO Scheme.
The consultation is ongoing and so at this stage there is
uncertainty as to how the "grace periods" will be
interpreted. For this blog, we just want to consider the planning
aspects and discuss what might represent a 'material'
variation from an original application.
Of course, it is not uncommon for non-material amendments (under
Section 96A of the Town and Country Planning Act) to be made on
large solar applications and if DECC follows the planning regime,
then such changes would not be considered as material
variations.
The difficulty that might arise is if the changes are regarded as
'minor material' and so an application under Section 73 is
required. Of course, whilst the planning regime consider these
changes to be material, they are not sufficiently material as to
require a new planning application and so it will be interesting to
see what interpretation is made by DECC.
Practice Note – these "grace periods" mean
that investors need to be even more careful in the planning due
diligence that they do on solar projects as it is not always
apparent when planning amendments have been made – some LPAs
will put the applications separately on their websites rather than
linking them to the main consents.
For more detail on these changes and the UK Government's
evolving policy on support for the Renewables sector, follow this
link .
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
