Simple proposal to support 500MWe of commercial rooftop solar in Ireland. Anything wrong with this proposal?

Like most industry professionals, I find the constant rhetoric of "we shall not be backwards in going forwards, in the fight against Climate Change" from the political classes rather nauseating. I'm only interested in actions, not words. So rather than howl at the moon (any more!), I thought I'd propose a pretty simple scheme to get rooftop PV moving in Ireland. I doubt it would even need State Aid Clearance, but if it did, would DG Comp really have an issue with it?

My proposal: Introduce a 15 year, fixed tariff on electricity generated from PV installations of up to 1MWe, whether exported or used on-site. EU Guidelines on Support for Renewable Technologies allows for fixed price supports of projects less than 1MWe (6MWe for wind for some reason, but that's a head-scratch for another day) and given the fact the industry would be starting from virtually a standing start, I believe a fixed tariff in justified.

I believe this would enable rapid deployment of rooftop tariff and don't see why we would have to wait for RESS, as the cost of this proposal is less than the costs that were assumed to support REFIT3 projects (that then never got built). The excuse will always be "those b*****ds in Europe will never let us do it". However, I simply do not believe that the EU institutions are anti-renewables, anti-business or anti-common bloody sense - and the monster that is "State Aid clearance" is merely a cover for not trying hard enough.

Slight segway, but on the subject of blaming Brussels, we are all "those b*****ds in Europe" - that's kind of the point of the European UNION - there is no "them" and "us", so can Civil Servants please stop using Brussels as an excuse. Cheers!

Details:

Start by introducing a fixed tariff of 7c/kWhr for projects commissioned in 2018 (and then index linked for 15 years). Set out a clear plan to reduced the tariff for new projects by 1c/kWh per annum until either the Tariff drops to zero (2025) or the scheme hits the 500MWe installed target.

Benefits:

• Rapid delivery of the least contentious form of renewable energy (note that this
• 500MWe is enough for the PV installation industry to reach critical mass in Ireland.
• Degression in rate for new projects captures falling cost of panels.
• In many cases would allow business consumer to right size their MIC (depending on their load profile) - this would drop their fixed costs.
• Would reduce emissions and energy consumption from the grid.
• Would allow SMEs to improve their green credentials.
• No need for a career of consultations, economic analysis, broken promises, naval gazing, self-flagellation, etc.

Budget control calculations: (for people to check, in case I am going mad).

Maximum exposure would be:

500MWe at c900MWh production per MW installed p.a.; 450,000MWh at 7c/kWh = €31.5m per annum for 15 years.

However, it is not likely that 500MWe could be deployed in 2018, so more likely deployment rates would be 100MWe per annum from 2018 to 2022, so an average tariff of 5c/kWh, giving total annual cost of €22.5m.

This compares to annual PSO subsidy for 300MW of peat of about €140m – which as we know is a massive emitter of GHG.

Note: the €22.5m annual cost would add about 34c per month to all consumers' electricity bills. About 1/6th of what they pay turn peatlands into power (very inefficiently).

A price worth paying? I think so.