The Case Against (Small-Scale) Feed-In-Tariffs

Feed-in-tariffs have become the holy grail of clean energy policy in some circles. But if they’re being used to stimulate roof-top solar and other small-scale renewables, then Monbiot thinks they amount to A Great Green Ripoff:

On April 1st the government introduces its feed-in tariffs. These oblige electricity companies to pay people for the power they produce at home. The money will come from their customers, in the form of higher bills. It would make sense, if we didn’t know that the technologies the scheme will reward are comically inefficient.

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We have plenty of ambient energy, but it’s not to be found on people’s roofs. The only renewables policy that makes sense is to build big installations where the energy is – which means high ground, estuaries or the open sea – and deliver it by wire to where people live. But the government’s scheme sloshes money into places where resources are poor and economies of scale impossible.

More Monbiot v Distributed Renewables here and here