Vocal Voices

For personal reasons, I've been checking out what tariff rate would be viable to do grid feed in of a generating station.

I did some basic calculations and worked out that a 100kw station working 24 hours a day would generate a very reasonable return based on 5p per kwh.

Today I was reading, again, about the Hinckley point infrastructure. It's based on a price point of 9.2p per kwh starting in 2025. Which tells you something bout the expected pricing structure because prices are currently under that.

Then I thought I'd have a look at the feed in tariff for renewables, just to see what the comparison costs and benefits are. That was quite a surprise...

I picked a hydro arrangement because we've been talking back and forwards on that one for a while. I picked a <15kw installation as it was the only option and then I fed in a figure which would mean it was working 24h at 12kw capacity.

The return figure was quite startling in terms of how much the government is subsidising it. The figure was circa 20p per kwh. Hugely more than Hinckley point and higher again than current wholesale costs.

Literally, one 12kw river generator, working at capacity 24x7, would generate around £21,000 per year.

Which tells you what is going to happen to micro generating feed in tariffs when the nuclear stations come online. Government subsidies have already collapsed in France. Solar produces absolutely nothing for those who were benefitting from the feed in subsidies. In fact those who bought solar in France are now left trying to work out how to put the heaviest electric burners in the house into the solar generating zone to reduce their use of electricity. As this is the only way they will ever get any return.

Food for thought on the whole "clean energy from the ground up" fantasy. Unless you have extensive micro generating capability, it simply won't make any money and if it does not make any money, then people won't do it. However the government has bet the bank on people micro generating as a flexible core of their reduced CO2 strategy....

The altruist in me says that the payback, for those who can afford it, from installing small scale generation, should be the knowledge they are helping the planet. The realist in me says they want the money; and if big multi-nationals want the money then why not the small player?

I was annoyed when Leeds City Council announced its new flood defences costing ~£50 million. Two movable weirs (rising and falling) will be introduced as will the removal of 1.2 cu/km of earthworks to increase flow. Nobody, not one person, suggested that these works could be used to generate free electricity.

These smaller schemes are just not on the horizon of those who can only think big, massive or humongous.

Yes I'd have been really annoyed too WM especially with you pushing your local government/MP to do something.

In this case life is certainly not a box of chocolates, you know exactly what you are going to get. So we fall back on Stupid is as Stupid does.