Feed In Tariffs(FIT) Announced.

Cardew

shoi wrote: »

In France it is already announced that the FIT equivalent rate will be reduced for installations done in 2011 (but the 0.58€ rate for installations done this year is guaranteed for 20 years and inflation proofed)

Also in UK they have announced the reduction in FITs for 2011 and subsequent years - for new installations in those years. This is why I stated "by more than the outlined proposals"

I was suggesting that if panel prices reduced dramatically, they might reduce the FITs for those years.

MrsBartolozzi

I've had a quick look through this thread and see no mention of this yet:

My friend just emailed me this link to a Downing St petition by pioneer wind power microgenerators who are going to lose out massively under the terms of the new Feed -in Tarriff scheme, simply because we were pioneers and risk-takers and took the plunge ahead of an arbitrary cut-off date.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Microgenerators/

She also sent me a link to an Early Day Motion regarding the same thing for those of you interested in approaching your MP.

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=40573&SESSION=903


Thanks for reading, MrsB.

penrhyn

I don't see why the majority of consumers should have to subsidise these middle class fashion accessories, which in reality is what domestic solar and wind power are.
Germany is already slashing its solar power subsidy, we would be better funding insulation and double glazing.

noncom_2

Germany may be slashing its solar power subsidy because take up there has reached the point where it is no longer a "middle class fashion accessory" but a significant part of the power generation mix. Since adoption of small scale renewable technologies in the UK is so low at the moment, the Govt has decided to try and kick start adoption via subsidies, partly in the hope that wider use will lead to economies of scale and make them economically more viable in the long term. Or course, the dilemma we face is that much of what is currently "economically viable" is environmentally unsustainable, and at some point we have to change our economic models to cope with that.

The Govt already has plans to fund widespread insulation over the next 5 years, btw. The present system of subsidy has improved matters, and better insulation is a good medium term investment for most households, but take up among the lower income strata of our society is still low, so the strategy will change from "subsidy" to "free provision". Can't remember where I heard this btw, so very happy to be corrected on the details.

Cardew

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

I've had a quick look through this thread and see no mention of this yet:

My friend just emailed me this link to a Downing St petition by pioneer wind power microgenerators who are going to lose out massively under the terms of the new Feed -in Tarriff scheme, simply because we were pioneers and risk-takers and took the plunge ahead of an arbitrary cut-off date.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Microgenerators/

She also sent me a link to an Early Day Motion regarding the same thing for those of you interested in approaching your MP.

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=40573&SESSION=903


Thanks for reading, MrsB.

Covered in posts #61 to #64.

As I stated, where do you stop with retrospective grants?

Car scrappage grants, paternity leave, insulation grants etc etc have all been enhanced in recent years - if there is an argument to retrospectively give a high rate of FIT, isn't there a case to do the same for every other grant that has been introduced/improved over the last, say, 50 years.

The simple fact is that people fitted solar/wind on the merits of the grants/income available at that time and there is no case IMO to change because a more lucrative scheme has now been introduced

noncom_2

Just so you know, there's an edition of Radio 4's Environment Issues programme "Costing The Earth" on 22nd March at 9pm (on Radio 4 obviously) looking at Feed In Tariffs. The specific case study relates to Wind Turbines, but the programme will consider the ethical dilemmas raised by George Monbiot applicable to all forms of MicroGeneration which will attract FITs.

I guess there won't be much to surprise anyone who's already done their research on this topic, but as a general introduction to the ideas, it should be interesting.

John_Pierpoint

There is a big practical thread on this subject here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=30918353#post30918353

The modest sized domestic retro-fit subsidised by other consumers is:
41.3 p for generating each unit. (kWh)
+3.0 p for each unit sold back to the electricity company
(The government has run out of money so there is no grant any more).

Initially it may be assumed that half the production is sold back to the electricity company for the low price of 3p until such time as your intelligent meter is fitted to actually record the amount,. (not sure what happens for those of you with meters that go backwards)
At the low price of 3p it probably makes sense to dribble the spare electricity into your hot water tank if there is an intelligent sparks out there who knows how to recognise when your voltage creeps over 240V and starts going backwards down the supply wires.

The only real issue is that there is already a shortage on inverters in the market and it may take time for enough stock to be available to satisfy demand.

That is because lots of Germans are rushing to cash in on their FiT before it gets considerably reduced having achieved the goal of getting much day time carbon out of the grid.

Mcfi5dhc

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

At the low price of 3p it probably makes sense to dribble the spare electricity into your hot water tank if there is an intelligent sparks out there who knows how to recognise when your voltage creeps over 240V and starts going backwards down the supply wires.

There is a product out there recently that does this called EMMA (google "Solar EMMA Cool" and it'll come up) which is a product I am interested in (no I don't work for them, or the industry at all)

It basically balances the load between what power you are using, and what you are generating, If you are generating more than you need, it dumps the power elsewhere (like the hot water tank for example)

noncom_2

The EMMA device looks interesting, but I can't see any indication of price. In our house, the hot water is an unvented cylinder primarily heated by the gas condensing boiler so should be reasonably cheap to run anyway.

If the EMMA device adds another £100 to the cost of our solar installation it might be worth it (using the "free" electricity which would otherwise be exported to run the immersion coil instead), but if it's £1000 then the payback time would surely be huge.

Anyone know roughly how much this thing (single phase model) is? Not forgetting I'd have to pay an electrician to wire it in as well.....

Andy

Cardew

It is worth pointing out that with the growing popularity of Combi boilers, there are less and less Hot water tanks these days.

Perhaps the EMMA could power a fountain spraying green coloured water!!