How immoral?

The government is apparently going to consider cuts in subsidies to solar panel installations. Apparently wind power is going to be targeted too.

Intense discussions are taking place about precisely how far to cut the small-scale solar “feed-in tariff” (FiT) which pays households and companies for energy produced.

Some officials in the Department of Energy and Climate Change are calling for a reduction in the subsidy by three-quarters, according to industry sources.

That would mean a fall from the current level of up to 43p per kilowatt hour generated, to as little as 9p per kWh – a move which the industry claims would be devastating. If the government follows past precedent, any change would not affect homeowners with existing solar panels.

So the lucky few wealthy people will continue to be subsidised by the poor. It's just a matter of how much immorality the government decides to retain in the system.

Case not Proven

Proven Energy, the domestic wind turbine manufacturer that had to advise buyers of one of its most popular machines to switch off because of a fault, has gone into receivership.

A Scottish company that makes small-scale wind turbines has gone into administration with the loss of 55 jobs.

Directors of Proven Energy called in the receivers after a fault was found in one of its turbines and the firm did not have the finance to keep trading.

Beware windfarms

Proven Energy has announced that it has a problem with one of its popular small wind turbines:

Proven Energy has become aware of a potential manufacturing defect in its Proven 35-2 wind turbine (The Proven 7 and Proven 11 are unaffected). We are investigating this, however, our work to date has now shown that a significant number of shafts may be affected across multiple manufacturing batches.  

With that in mind we are now advising all Proven 35-2 owners to place their wind turbines on brake as soon as it is safe to do so. Under no circumstances should you apply the parking brake whilst the wind turbine is rotating at normal operating speeds since this will place extra stress on the shaft. We will ensure that you receive regular updates in the interim period.  Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

In other words, that propeller whirling above your farmhouse is in danger of breaking off and turning you into a puree. Oh yes, but you can't switch it off until the wind stops blowing. Round where I live that could be six months or so!

Clearly in green circles, "Proven" means something slightly different to normal usage.

(H/T John Lyon)