Infrastructure Act 2015

Identification of qualifying facilities

3 (1) Right to buy regulations must make provision enabling those renewable electricity generation facilities which are qualifying facilities to be identified.

(2) The regulations may make provision enabling the following to be identified—

(a) different renewable electricity generation facilities located at the same site;

(b) any facility at that site which is a qualifying facility.

(3) The regulations may make provision enabling the following to be identified in cases where there is expansion at a site where a renewable electricity generation facility is located—

(a) any new renewable electricity generation facility created by the expansion;

(b) any facility at that site which is a qualifying facility (including any existing facility which becomes a qualifying facility because its total installed capacity is expected to be 5 megawatts or more as a result of the expansion).

(4) Right to buy regulations may make provision about cases in which the right to buy is not to be exercisable in relation to a renewable electricity generation facility which would otherwise be a qualifying facility (an “excepted facility”).

(5) The functions that may be conferred by regulations under sub-paragraph (4) (in accordance with section 39(1)) include—

(a) the function of determining whether or not a renewable electricity generation facility is an excepted facility;

(b) the function of specifying that a particular renewable electricity generation facility is an excepted facility.

(6) The regulations may provide for an excepted facility to be identified by reference to one or more of the following factors—

(a) community ownership of the facility;

(b) community ownership of a stake in the facility;

(c) non-participation in a statutory energy scheme (whether or not there could be participation in the scheme in respect of the facility).