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Back to Menu It Seems Too Good To Be True By Neale McQuistin for D&G Standard, March 9th 2010 I’ve grown all too wary of those “it seems too good to be true” type of deals and you would think that at the ripe old age of 49 and a bit I should know better. But, despite all of my past experience, I’ve just been sucked in once again. If a man appeared at my door and offered me a deal where I would be paid a guaranteed price for producing something then I would probably hear him out. If he then went on to say that he would pay me for the product even if I used it myself on the farm then I would probably set the dogs onto him and throw one of Janet’s rock cakes at him as he fled towards his car. But, that is exactly the deal that is being offered by the government, to produce electricity, with their new feed-in-tariff scheme (FIT)s. From the 1st of April this year the department of Energy and Climate Change will introduce a system of feed-in tariffs to encourage small scale, low carbon electricity generation. These FITs are primarily designed to attract businesses, organisations and individuals who are not traditionally engaged in electricity production to become involved, and in my particular case, it has worked. Now I’m not suggesting that I’ve got this, “there be gold in them there hills”, glazed look, about me at the moment but it certainly looks to be quite an attractive proposition. Basically the FITs scheme has three different elements to it. Firstly, there is the “generation tariff”. This is where the government are prepared to pay the producer for every kilowatt of electricity that he generates. For wind power, for instance, the payment will be 26.7 pence per kilowatt hour. This payment will be index linked and will be guaranteed for twenty years. Secondly there is the “export tariff”. The producer will be paid a guaranteed amount of 3 pence per kilowatt hour for the electricity that is not used on the site and is fed into the national grid. Thirdly, and this is the, it seems too good to be true part, there is the “on-site use of electricity”. This is where the electricity used on-site will be offset against electricity you would otherwise have had to buy. So, having ascertained that the financial incentives are very attractive you then have to decide what your particular circumstances are best suited to, as far as electricity production is concerned. Here at Airyolland it’s not quite the Costa del Sol so perhaps solar panels will not be best suited for electricity production. We do, however, have a wee burn that runs down off the hill into the river Luce. It might have the potential for hydro electric production? The Craig burn here drops 40 metres as it wends its way down hill before emptying into the river. This would be a reasonable amount of head for hydro production but there is the small problem of the Stranraer to Glasgow rail link that gets in the way. Network Rail, I would imagine, would get quite touchy about me digging up their tracks to put in pipe work so perhaps hydro electric production is not for me either. That just leaves wind power as my only realistic option for getting in on the small scale renewable energy market. I would not consider my location here as being absolutely ideal for siting a wind turbine but I’m quite prepared to give it a go. Planning permission has been applied for and a line survey has been instigated to verify if the infrastructure here will be suitable to connect into the national grid. If we get confirmation that our site is suitable then we will move quickly towards erecting our wind turbine. But fear not, dear reader, Airyolland farm will not look like the next big wind park with row upon row of monstrous grey turbines breaching the sky-line. No, it will be a more pastoral scene with one modest windmill, spinning away, near our farmhouse. Not so much a wind farm but more like The Little House on the Prairie. Aww, cue the music.
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