Saturday 28 January 2012

Feed In Tariff Review

As the eurozone crisis hurtles inexorably towards the precipice it is not entirely surprising that one or two observers question our misguided investments in eco snake oil.  Against the background of Germany waking up to the fact they have been well and truly stitched up by the PV lobby, it should come as little surprise that they have decided to pull the plug on the industrial subsidy junkie.  Not precipitously, but as the PV industry has for so long been banging on about “grid parity”, then their hand is being called and the FIT will be phased out by 2017.

It may come as a bit of a shock when they realise that it is not grid parity they will achieve, but tariff parity, so that PV generation will still find itself unable to compete without subsidy in the energy market.
The controversy around the reduction in the UK FIT for PV towards the end of last year continues, with Friends of the Earth scoring a pyrrhic legal victory for common nonsense.  The 43p/kWh rate will remain until at least 3rd March so we can expect another brief gold rush over the next few weeks, but this is merely delaying the inevitable.  Perhaps that is all they were hoping to achieve, in which case it was all a lot of fuss about nothing.  I was somewhat amused to hear an interview with the owner of one PV installation company claiming that it was not the reduction in FIT they objected to, but the timing.  She claimed that they, along with the PV industry, had been arguing for a reduced FIT for some time!
“Please stop paying us so much for PV generation.  We really don’t want it.  We know it will all end in tears.”
Do you recall anyone in the PV industry saying that?  I thought not; they were all up to their snouts in swill at the time anyway.
However, it does rather raise some doubts as to whether FIT and similar subsidies may not so much drive down PV prices, but quite the contrary as PV prices become inflated to exploit every last penny of the subsidy.  For, no sooner does the obscene 43p appear to be back on the table than adverts appear exhorting us to get back in the trough until 3rd March.  By the time you read this it may have changed, but on the day the announcement was made, alongside adverts which had been in place since the earlier announcement of the reduced FIT offering 3.8kW systems at £7000, new adverts appeared offering exactly the same systems for considerably more, justified by the higher FIT!
Indeed, a survey of PV systems across Europe reveals a worrying trend of PV prices directly related to whatever FIT is in place and PV manufacturers hopping from one market to the next like a plague of locusts sucking the lifeblood from the gullible taxpayers.
Greg Barker was quite right to denounce the excessive PV subsidy which was draining all the resources from low carbon electricity to one sub-optimal technology as “barmy”.  Unfortunately, as a politician at the mercy of the vagaries of ill-informed public opinion he was forced into a rational, albeit barely credible argument about spreading the same money thinner to encourage even larger numbers of PV installations.
What he should have had the courage to say, is what his counterparts in Germany are now saying:
"From the standpoint of the climate, every solar system is a bad investment"
He is quite right that we have limited resources.  The Germans are right that we should make the best use of those limited resources.  Lets hope that the FIT review does its job properly and concludes that if climate change is the problem then each technology should be rewarded on its potential contribution to carbon mitigation rather than how stupidly expensive it is.
Not only does micro CHP keep you warm in winter, generate enough electricity to meet all a households needs when it is dark, in winter and when there is no wind, it also has the lowest cost per tonne of carbon displaced from central generating plant.  To me, that means it currently represents the best use of resources for a low carbon domestic heat sector.  Maybe if there is something left in the trough after the PV piggies have had their fill…?
For an analysis of the carbon mitigation potential of micro CHP, click here
For additional papers on micro CHP, including the relative carbon mitigation potential for various microgeneration technologies, click here

Wednesday 25 January 2012

End of the line for solar gravy train?

If the collapse of the perceived value of solar PV stocks is anything to go by it would appear as Fraser would say that “we are all doomed”. Major Chinese c-Si (crystalline silicon, conventional) PV manufacturers Trina and JA Solar share prices fell 17% in two days on the NY stock exchange with demand for their commodity products dropping like a silicon ingot in free fall as European governments finally wake up to the realisation that they have been conned into pouring gazillions of tax payers money into probably the worst low carbon generation investment since Olkiluoto.

Friday 13 January 2012

E.ON launches micro CHP...again!

Rumours circulating in the industry appear to have been confirmed by what must rate as the lowest of all low key product launches in the history of the energy industry.

Buried deep within the E.ON web site, an article has appeared inviting aspirant micro CHP owners to put their name on the waiting list for the long awaited WhisperGen 1kW micro CHP product. This may be the equivalent of building up a queue for the new iPAD, but I hardly see a micro CHP unit as a fashion accessory. However, if previous experience is anything to go by, you had better get your name down fast as there may not be many products available for a while.