Britian adding utility renewable incentives to national debt

[kristopher]

Britain Raises Biogas Tariffs & Revises Solar PV Tariffs
By Paul Gipe, Contributor June 17, 2011

London, UK -- Britain's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has issued new tariffs for solar photovoltaics (solar PV) and biogas under its pioneering feed-in tariff program.

The new tariffs, which begin August 1, 2011, culminate a controversial "expedited review" of the tariffs spurred by the rapid growth of solar PV under the program.

The scheduled two-year review doesn't begin until this summer.

In an odd twist on the European debt crisis, Britain's Treasury includes utility commitments to purchase electricity under feed-in tariffs as part of the heavily indebted country's public debt.

Britain's Treasury, consequently, was alarmed by...

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/06/britain-raises-biogas-tariffs-revises-solar-pv-tariffs


Gipe does a good job of finding the positives in the British feed-in taiffs program. And it is a good article for that information alone. But I was struck by the peculiar curiosity of why they would add the renewable incentives to the national debt. My supposition is that it helps gain a public constituency that could enable the rightist in the government to, regardless of the economic merit of the tariffs, target them for elimination or reduction in the name of austerity measures.

This is the kind of very weak compromise that results when nuclear and renewables are pulling against each other. The stated strategy of the nuclear industry (companies like Toshiba, Areva etc) is to hunker down for a couple of years while public opinion mellows and economic conditions for building reactors pass into a new phase. I've read estimates of 4 - 10 years of minimal activity.

That presents them with a problem, however. In order to help bring about the economic conditions favoring expansion of nuclear they need to suppress, to the extent possible, the roll-out of renewable alternatives and moves to limit growth in demand. The industry is in serious trouble with solar prices falling as they are, but that isn't going to stop them from trying.