Solar ... In the news

Martyn1981

Cardew wrote: »

Do you understand what 'principle' means?

Yep, it's quite simple, he disagrees with the principle of all energy consumers paying to support PV, via FiTs as the subsidies are returned to some consumers.

But he and you, don't seem to have any principle objections to every other form of energy which is subsidised by all consumers, with non being returned to consumers.


Just a thought, but you have kids right? So you will have received subsidies (child support) for your actions. I think support these days for 2 children is approx £1.5k pa.

So why is it ok for you to invest in the future (I have no problems with your actions) but its not ok for me to invest in the future of the UK?

Mart.

PS Are those claims by Monbiot true or not?

Martyn1981

michaels wrote: »

However if battery gets that cheap that quickly is it time to ask the lithium availability question again?

Don't know, but interested to find out if anyone knows. Will do some reading now.

One thing to note is in the US there are large deposits in Nevada where the Tesla Gigafactory is being built. I believe the idea is to chuck the raw material in one end, and have batteries come out the other. Part of the reason why a price drop of 30% or so is expected when the factory comes on line.

Fingers firmly crossed.

[Edit: Found an article on investing in Lithium which is surprising. The price has gone up a lot, but not particularly good news for the mining giants whose business includes Lithium. Also an article on the Gigafactory. M.]

Mart.

EricMears

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cardew
Do you understand what 'principle' means?


Yep, it's quite simple, he disagrees with the principle of all energy consumers paying to support PV, via FiTs as the subsidies are returned to some consumers.

Mart.

The purpose of levies is twofold. 1. (fairly obvious) To contribute towards the cost of renewable generation and 2. (slightly more subtle) to encourage consumers to use less electricity.


It's a devil of a job to find out exactly how the levies are applied but I remain fairly confident that they are arranged such that the amount of levy collected is proportional to the amount of electricity used. If anyone could show that it's actually a flat sum per household added to everyone's bill then I'd agree it's unfair (and that my aim 2 isn't being achieved).


Assuming that to be true, then everyone should be incentivised to reduce consumption.


From
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/energy-bills/11214562/Green-levies-on-energy-bills-to-double-by-2020-official-estimates-show.html
I've managed to find out some figures that show the effect these levies are having on a 'average' bill of £1300 (although as usual the definition of 'average' is pretty vague)

THE GREEN LEVIES ON YOUR ENERGY BILL
"Feed-in-tariffs" (subsidies for household renewables)
2014: £9
2020: £14
2030: £13
"Renewables Obligation" (subsidies for large wind, solar, biomass)
2014: £36
2020: £48
2030: £30
"Contracts for difference" (subsidies for wind, solar, biomass and nuclear)
2014: £0
2020: £30
2030: £89
"Capacity market" (subsidies for power plants to back up intermittent renewables)
2014: £0
2020: £12
2030: £14
Carbon taxes
2014: £7 for EU tax, £16 for UK
2020: £7 for EU tax, £30 for UK
2030: £80 across EU and UK taxes
TOTAL PER HOUSEHOLD PER YEAR*
2014 - £68
2020 - £141
2030 - £226

Hence in 2014 the 'average' household contributed £9 towards FIT payments and another £59 towards the other levies and around £1250 for the actual electricity. I would expect 'poor households' to use rather less electricity than average so pay a lot less than £9 per year


Moving forward to 2030 (and I'd be amazed if anyone can really make an accurate forecast that far in advance !) our 'average household will be paying £13 towards FIT payments, £213 towards other levies and (only !) £1300 for the actual electricity. And again, our 'poor households' are likely to pay a lot less than 'average' ones.


Incidentally, 'LifesgrandPlan' is indeed a long standing MSE member but clearly admitted being a Newbie in this area of the forum.




Why on Earth don't we just drop this drivel, move it to a page which we could mark as 'to be ignored' and leave space for actual news items ?

Martyn1981

EricMears wrote: »

It's a devil of a job to find out exactly how the levies are applied but I remain fairly confident that they are arranged such that the amount of levy collected is proportional to the amount of electricity used.

My understanding too is that the levy is a percentage on the bill, so proportional to use, which sounds fair.

Fascinating chart, thanks. One thing that jumps out at me is the carbon tax. Presumably a reduction in FF generation will offset those taxes if we are lucky. The reason I raise this is down to the simply enormous reduction in coal generation we have now seen.

Mart.

lstar337

:hello: :search::search::search: Searching for the solar news, anyone seen it? :search::search::search: :rotfl:

EricMears

lstar337 wrote: »

:hello: :search::search::search: Searching for the solar news, anyone seen it? :search::search::search: :rotfl:

An obvious thought to expect to find individual pages confining themselves to individual topics - alas, there aren't many MSE threads where that works

Cardew

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Cardew, it's a simple question, why won't you answer it?

Mart.

You seem a little slower than usual. I did answer the question posed by Lifes Grand Plan in my post #1286.


I really have better things to do than answer the irrelevant and trivial nonsense(drivel!) you post.

Cardew

lstar337 wrote: »

:hello: :search::search::search: Searching for the solar news, anyone seen it? :search::search::search: :rotfl:

Isn't this the disgraceful Nuclear subsidies thread?

Martyn1981

Cardew wrote: »

You seem a little slower than usual. I did answer the question posed by Lifes Grand Plan in my post #1286.


I really have better things to do than answer the irrelevant and trivial nonsense(drivel!) you post.

I'll take that as a no then (big surprise), and get back to the news.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Strong public support for solar soars to new highs

The latest wave of the survey showed that 44% of those surveyed said they were in ‘strong support’ of solar as a source of renewable energy, higher than any previous wave. General support for solar also remained high with 84% of respondents indicating their support.

Just two per-cent of those questioned said they opposed solar as a technology.

Here are the links to the 17th DECC survey. The Excel spreadsheet of headline findings is an interesting read (sort of).

DECC Public Attitudes
Tracker – Wave 17

Mart.