I have been wondering about middle size projects. Say some individuals get together to try to find an intelligent way to save money for their retirement, or want to make an investment contributing to the well being of this planet, or a mix of the two.
Between them , say they can contribute up to the order of half a million euros, plus they can probably borrow more, plus they may be able to contribute monthly to some kind of fund.
My question is : is it totally far fetched to think they could setup some kind of wind turbine on some private property ? What kind of regulation they would run against ? How would they be able to sell the energy ? Do machines of the right size actually exist, and who makes them ?
If things just don't work out at this scale, then what should they aim for ?
A swedish kind of death:
I recently came across O2, a swedish wind-coop. They offer a membership share for 6200 SEK (~650 euro) which entitles you to use 1000 kWh/year for the production cost of 0,13 SEK/kWh (~0,015 euro/kWh) which translates to 10% of retail price. If you use less the rest can be sold. If you leave you can sell back your share. You cut out the middle man in the investment-chain and invest in what you are going to consume. That way you decrease uncertainty for both seller and consumer/investor. Is this basically what you are proposing but on a national scale? (If so, I understood correctly.) Oh, and a link to o2 Energi.
I recently came across O2, a swedish wind-coop. They offer a membership share for 6200 SEK (~650 euro) which entitles you to use 1000 kWh/year for the production cost of 0,13 SEK/kWh (~0,015 euro/kWh) which translates to 10% of retail price. If you use less the rest can be sold. If you leave you can sell back your share.
You cut out the middle man in the investment-chain and invest in what you are going to consume. That way you decrease uncertainty for both seller and consumer/investor.
Is this basically what you are proposing but on a national scale? (If so, I understood correctly.)
Oh, and a link to o2 Energi.
They have 2000 members and own 3 wind power plants. This is apperently a working scale. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
Most projects were fairly small (1-5 turbines) and the investment was made by local cooperatives, or individual investors using the tax breaks initially proided by government.
It only fairly recently in Europe that projects have become larger (in the 20-100MEUR range) and mostly a business for professional developers, financial investors or utilities. (The US, with lots more room, has been mostly a large-scale industry all along).
But small projects are still happening, and are being financed by smaller banks which may be less sensitive to the global credit turmoil. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Any links, info, Google search words ?
Check out this reference paper for some ideas. There's lot's more on the web. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
I just wanted to point them out as a working example of what you are proposing.
Since most of the questions regard regulations I would guess that it is different from country to country, so the swedish information would hardly be useful anyway. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
But you still required 90% of the investment from other banks... with today don't lend that much, apparently.
This was the nicer kind of securitization... Rien n'est gratuit en ce bas monde. Tout s'expie, le bien comme le mal, se paie tot ou tard. Le bien c'est beaucoup plus cher, forcement. Celine
The problem today is lack of liquidity. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Aren't the banks insolvent until further rescue?
On a side-note, I will be in Paris this week-end. With all the pictures posted from the Paris Meet-Up, I may just recognize you in the street. Stardom is at hand. Rien n'est gratuit en ce bas monde. Tout s'expie, le bien comme le mal, se paie tot ou tard. Le bien c'est beaucoup plus cher, forcement. Celine
Of course, Feed-in tariffs would be needed to make the thing go, but with the electric utility regulatory hodge-podge, and in an environment where states would be desperate to get capital investment employment, requiring an appropriate feed-in tariff in order to be eligible for REDB participation could well be enough to get a substantial slate of feed-in tariffs in place. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
Why is secured debt necessary at all? "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
After all, secured debt is not an instrument created in order to permit the existence of banks. Secured debt is an instrument that historically precedes commercial banking as we now understand it.
Abolition of secured debt in favor of all-equity liabilities would of course lead to a large reliance on Preferred equity with various heavy strings attached for non-performance that would press up against whatever boundary line was drawn for which strings were so heavy that the Preferred Share was secured debt in disguise. However, it would not eliminate private depository institutions.
And, indeed, we have learned how to regulate a commercial banking system so that it is not prone to periodic panics through asset value melt-downs. We have just not learned how to keep those regulations in force for more than half of a Kondratiev long-cycle. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
