By Isabella Kaminski

Ofgem has published a large database revealing the location, technology and capacity of every feed-in tariff registered renewable energy generator in the UK, following a Freedom of Information request by the Renewable Energy Foundation. It is the first time such information has been published and Ofgem has committed to updating the database every three months.

However, the regulator does not know how much electricity the renewable energy generators are producing due to the design of the feed-in tariff legislation. According to the Government's regulatory impact assessments, the feed-in tariff scheme, which heavily subsidises renewable energy generators, will have a total lifetime cost to the general electricity consumer of over £8 billion.

Dr Lee Moroney, Principal Data Analyst for the Renewable Energy Foundation, says: "Good data is essential for public accountability. Ofgem are clearly doing what they can and we applaud their efforts in releasing this new FiT information, but the key data related to the actual performance of the individual renewable technologies is missing. In order to protect the consumer interest, this has got to change."