December 6th 2007

Conservative's micro generation manifesto "a dangerous distraction from the big task at hand"

The policy sounds good, something no-one could really object to, but if you scratch the surface it falls apart. Recent research by the BRE has shown that the current crop of mini wind never pays back its carbon debt - simply because they don't produce enough electricity! And solar PV is so expensive you'll never make your money back or the carbon.

This isn't a bad policy stood on its own (there are good things to put on your roof like Solar heating) but if it's pitched against Big Wind it's disastrous - a dangerous distraction from the task at hand. The Conservatives use Germany as an example - what Germany's done is great but their success is all down to Big Wind, not micro generation - they are mistaken when they say this. And Big Wind is far from the unpopular eye sore this paper makes out - in the UK as well as Germany

A good mini wind mill in a good location might provide 10% of a households electricity use, typical results though will be much lower - say 5% and with domestic demand making up only 30% of UK electricity use the very best that could be achieved in the UK with mini wind on every roof (which is not possible) - is 1.5% of our electricity needs - where is the rest going to come from? The majority of it has to come from Big Wind.

But... it's not a total write off. Micro wind generation technology today is badly engineered. The second generation of the technology, when it comes in, will play a role in reducing carbon emissions. It just won't be as big as this policy suggests, and it can't be instead of Big Wind - to think so is a dangerous delusion.

Dale Vince OBE, MD Ecotricity, the worlds first green energy company.

You can read more about the Conservative paper here.