It's an inconvenient fact that the more intermittent renewables you install, the more fast acting generators, like diesel generators, you need to keep the lights on. The rush for green energy will have lots of unintended consequences like this.
- Global annual diesel genset capacity additions are expected to increase from 62.5 GW in 2015 to 103.7 GW in 2024, representing a 5.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Meanwhile, global revenue from the installation of diesel gensets is expected to grow from $41.6 billion in 2015 to $67.9 billion in 2024. Asia Pacific is forecast to be the largest market for diesel gensets, followed by Western Europe and then North America. Leading countries for diesel genset installations include the United States, China, and India, among others.
Actually the EU Directive on the internal electricity market makes it a criminal offence to generate you own electricity. They can't enforce it, but its there. Elsewhere this is Donald Trump, Republican candidate for USA President addressing a Scottish parliament hearing on wind energy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzoqTiTimPA if the link does not work, 25/4/2012, Donald Trump addressing the Scottish Parliament Committee Meeting on wind farms (full session).
ReplyDeleteGenerating your own, is only feasible where it is worth while. Either the price of regular or peak electricity gets higher than the opportunity cost of generating your own or your income reduces to a point where the profit margin is less than the saving from generating your own. As long as the income from the business or job keeping the home going is above the cost of home generating, buying from the utility company will continue. There was a time when companies like Gypsum Industries at Kingscourt provided their own staff to blast explosives, dig out the rock, manufacture and kept a fleet of lorries to bring the product all over Ireland and abroad. Now they just manufacture, they hire in blasters and truckers. Less trouble, less pension payments, less staff to do the accounts and less payments on vat and income tax. Going back to the establishment of a diesel power plant at the factory will be costly and be a reversal of the trend to farm out as much work as possible.
ReplyDeleteAt present the EU and Irish government can force wind energy on consumers per force. They are helped by the above facts. However, if only a small area of the economy starts to generate their own, it will load the cost of wind on then rest. I would be looking on dairy farmers, where margins are tight, beef farmers and sucker farmers. We can run diesel because then noise is not a problem out in the sticks. Retired people might try too. However the biggest problem is industrial competition, as industry moves out to the USA, the new cantre of cheap manufacture assuming Trump becomes President.
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