Energy scheme scanadal

Zola.

Nearly all the politicians walked out on Arlene there earlier, she gave a long boring speech which seemed like a red herring for a lot of it, the only people who stayed and listened to her were her own party followers...

BigAl94

Best assessment so far http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/newton-emerson-arlene-foster-burns-in-fire-of-own-making-1.2911971

Julia81

I don't think so.

saverbuyer

Julia81 wrote: »

I don't think so.

Thank you Julia. Great input. You've really managed to put across your nuanced and rounded defense against Mein Führerin.

qwert_yuiop

She could have handled it a lot better - accepting she'd botched it a lot earlier would have minimized the damage.

(It's "meine", or "meiner" in that case.)

Coolhandluke

Something like this has been on the cards since Stormont was set up,it wasn't a question of if something like this would happen,just a question of when.Most are completely out of their depth except when it comes to accepting their their remuneration.
The Speaker was clearly out of his depth on the day and sure enough he is blaming it on someone else,will anyone ever hold their hand up to the going on's up there and accept responsibility.
Oh to go back to the days of direct rule !!

qwert_yuiop

There's always skullduggery where there's free money available. Money is no object as long as it's someone else's.
You have to question the wisdom of backing this scheme in any case - if it was such a brilliant idea to heat with wood pellets, surely we'd all be doing it without any subsidies? To me, the fact it required state aid suggests it was a non starter. I suspect wind power is going to go the same way once the tax breaks and favoured pricing regimes are removed. In twenty years time, there will be large pylons on our hills with no rotors attached.

Yankees

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

There's always skullduggery where there's free money available. Money is no object as long as it's someone else's.
You have to question the wisdom of backing this scheme in any case - if it was such a brilliant idea to heat with wood pellets, surely we'd all be doing it without any subsidies? To me, the fact it required state aid suggests it was a non starter. I suspect wind power is going to go the same way once the tax breaks and favoured pricing regimes are removed. In twenty years time, there will be large pylons on our hills with no rotors attached.

I would have to disagree with your "wisdom" argument. The logic behind the scheme was to help establish a market for renewable energy which when it gets enough traction will be able to stand on its own. There would then be a self-sustaining renewable industry; reducing reliability on fossil fuels; improving the environment; and creating another competitive option for NI energy consumers.

The problem was not the wisdom of the scheme but the application of the scheme by the NI Executive. The RHI scheme was implemented across England, Scotland and Wales with no issues.

I myself have availed of the domestic RHI scheme. I get a fixed amount every year which helps cover my initial investment. It cost over £10k to install my wood pellet boiler and solar panels for hot water. It will take approx. 5 year to cover my initial outlay. When I started the price of pellets was marginally cheaper that the equivalent cost of oil. The oil prices fell so I'm paying more for wood pellets than oil.

By the end of the 7 years grant income, then it is likely I will have made a modest return but for this I have taken the risk of installing £10k worth of equipment without an established market for repairs and taken the risk of wood pellet prices. There is also the additional effort of storing 1-2 tonnes of pellets and manually loading them into the boiler etc etc.

At the time of doing this, it would have been a lot easier for me just to install gas but I chose the environmental option.

There obviously appears to be abuse of the scheme but I would say there would be a lot of people who entered into this scheme in good faith and getting tarnished because of inept politicians and some dodgy farmers.

That's my 2-pennies worth!!!!!!!

qwert_yuiop

These wood pellets require oil in their manufacture. If more calories are used in their production than are released in their combustion, it's a subsidy dump and a nonsense and all the green argument goes up in smoke along with the oil consumed in their production.
In the USA corn belt, refineries turn maize into ethanol fuel. More oil is used in its production than is saved by using alcohol as a fuel instead of petrol. It's only a subsidy to the maize growers and distillers.

Have you figures to prove the wisdom of pellet heating? We need to see them. Otherwise we can be sure it's daft.

qwert_yuiop

I see there's kiln dried firewood for sale in tesco. That's oil/gas heating via wood. Efficiency level?