Display:

a feed in tariff (subsidy)

To expand on why there should be no equation: a feed-in tariff is a guaranteed purchase price. You can at best consider the difference between the tariff and the momentary market price the subsidy. (And it can actually be negative.) But even that is not really a subsidy, because in the end, it is not something paid from a public or private budget, but costs are spread out to customers (or eating away the profits of other producers).

Given that wind power lowers the marginal price when it blows, there is a merit order effect of supporting wind, which reduces prices for all producers at that time and creates savings for consumers. The aggregate value of that merit order effect has been measured in Denmark, Germany and Spain and is now larger than the net subsidy from the feed-in tariff.

In other words, the so-called "subsidy" to wind actually brings prices down for consumers!

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Feb 1st, 2010 at 08:47:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
In Norway. The net effect is lower prices, but because Denmark has little investment in load following capacity (The bulk of the coal plants are heat and power, and thus, cannot be turned off or even significantly down in the current weather) most of the load balancing is done by norvegian hydro, which buys wind power low and sells water power back dear later. This is not a technical problem, or even a problem for its green credentials  - Water behind the norwegian dams is a limited resource, so to the extent that the number of electrons traded back and forth in this manner sum to zero, they do displace fossil fuels in the end, but since this is done via trading, the bulk of the savings are transferred to the customers of the norwegian utilities, while the subsidy is paid in DK.

Note that if "imports and exports balance" is key to making even the green argument: Norway has no significant fossil generation and will not build any under any circumstances, so net exports merely displace norwegian investment in carbon neutral power, which is not a gain, since the danish power sector is overall the worst CO2 emitter in europe.

by Thomas on Wed Feb 3rd, 2010 at 08:48:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The consumers in DK get the same lower prices than the consumers in NO. what you mean is that the existing suppliers in DK take a disproportionate hit on their revenues (losing high price production), while NO producers can take advantage of the new price patterns.

Which is as it should be, given that DK incumbents are largely coal-based.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Feb 3rd, 2010 at 11:09:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password
Occasional Series