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Is this a good time to splash out on solar energy? | Environment | The Observer

Real, gutsy solar power is as rare as hen's teeth in this country. By the real deal I mean photovoltaic (PV) systems that convert sunlight into electricity as opposed to rather prosaic solar thermal systems that heat water. Last year just 6MW of solar PV was installed in this country. Compare and contrast the situation in Germany, where more than 1,500MW was installed last year and one in 10 buildings has a solar power system.

This is ludicrous because solar PV could provide 30-40% of the UK's total electricity needs by 2050, reducing CO2 emissions by 15% a year. An average domestic system (a fairly modest 1.8kWp PV system) can provide at least 25% of a household's energy. The sticking point has been the expense.

Luckily there are sunnier days ahead. We've been waiting years for a Feed-in Tariff scheme (rebranded as the Clean Energy Cash Back Scheme), and now it is expected to arrive in April 2010. This will guarantee domestic PV installations 36.5 pence per kw hour of electricity they feed back into the grid, probably for around 25 years.



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by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sun Oct 18th, 2009 at 12:25:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Solar in a country without sunshine? Or gee, I dunno, maybe throw some wind turbines up in Scotland? Say about 10,000 of them?

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Sun Oct 18th, 2009 at 04:34:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Maybe they can do like the Russians, and pay the air force to make the clouds go away.  Sounds like a plan to me.
by Zwackus on Sun Oct 18th, 2009 at 06:07:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
For a net EROEI of 0.1. Sign me up!

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Sun Oct 18th, 2009 at 07:36:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
But the hills are pretty, rich english people like coming up to stare at a pristine wilderness (created from farmland by english people in the early 19th century).

If you had a windfarm it would remind them of civilisation and, worse, the sort of DFHs their money protects them from.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Oct 19th, 2009 at 03:59:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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