The U.K.'s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) confirmed that the lower tariff for all installations in the <50 kW band will be triggered in the new year after insufficient solar deployment in this range in 2014 failed to spark an automatic degression.

Instead, Ofgem has pre-empted the degression despite some industry experts predicting that sterong growth in the third and fourth quarters would have been sufficient to trigger the 3.5% degression unaided.

     The new lower rate stands at £0.1171/kWh for the >10-50 kW band (down from £0.1213/kWh), £0.1257/kWh for the >4-10 kW band and £0.1388/kWh for the 0-4 kW band.

      Changes to the U.K.'s subsidy scheme for large-scale solar announced earlier this year were intended to shift support towards the smaller-scale domestic sector, but despite encouraging signs of growth in recent weeks, ground-mount PV capacity is poised to overtake installed rooftop capacity before the end of 2014.

       Deployment between the two sectors will likely end the year close to 50:50, with approximately 2 GW in each. However, the first quarter of 2015 is likely to see ground mount activity pull ahead, according to NPD Solarbuzz.