Articles by
Dave Toke
Chinese demand right to build UK power plants as price for Hinkley C
By
Dave Toke
So the Government's price for its nuclear programme will be hefty price rises for an increasing size of the UK electricity market being owned by the Chinese Government.
Wind Power history blows away Ed Davey’s excuse for giving short contracts to renewables
By
Dave Toke
Ed Davey's excuse for limiting wind power contracts to 15 years whilst Hinkley C gets a whopping 35 year contract is blown away by some elementary history checking. Lots of wind turbines in Altamont Pass - installed during the so-called Californian 'windrush' - are still turning after 31 years. Davey claims that the contracts he has awarded are in proportion to the technologies' design life expectancy. Yet the Altamont turbines will be turning until 2015, a 33 year lifetime . . .
Hinkley C to be paid more than twice as much as German solar pv arrays
By
Dave Toke
Even the German feed-in rates for smaller solar pv arrays have been reduced to well below the contract price being offered to EDF etc in the UK (see link at the bottom of this post). In addition, even in the UK the value of the incentives for British community wind power are in practice much lower than what is being offered to Hinkley C
Give community wind power the same EMR terms as Hinkley C!
By
Dave Toke
The Government has talked about extending the size of the schemes which qualify under the small feed-in tariff from 5MW to 10 MW. However this makes little difference as the rates payable under the small feed-in tariff are very low for anything larger than a few hundred KW. A 2 MW project, for example, would receive less than £60 per MWh.
Hinkley C: A Secret blank cheque is in the post
By
Dave Toke
The Government's hoo-hah over the Hinkley C nuclear deal hides what should be regarded as a decision by the British state - after denying it for years - to give a blank cheque for the power plant. In that sense, the headline price, whether £90 or £93 per MWh over 35-40 years does not really mean very much.
Public prefers reductions in room temperature to nuclear power as an energy solution says key survey
By
Dave Toke
A comprehensive survey published by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) of attitudes of the British public has found low support for nuclear power as a solution to the UK's problems compared to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Indeed, when ranked as a solution to the problems of energy security, climate change and affordability, nuclear power was perceived as being less preferable than reducing the heating temperature inside the home.
Davey denies offering EDF a nuclear blank cheque
By
Dave Toke
You would think that no other country in the world could get by without building more nuclear power stations! Why do some British people think we need them so bad? Maybe it is a feeling for the old times - after all, the UK was the last country to phase out steam engines from mainline railways!
British MPs want to give preference to nuclear over renewables
By
Dave Toke
In a report riddled with pro-nuclear fantasy hopes and statements, the Select Committee of MPs which scrutnises the Department of Energy and Climate Change has called upon the Government to give much better terms to nuclear power than will be offered to renewable energy. . .
British Government admits nuclear power is a dead loss
By
Dave Toke
'The size of the nuclear programme will depend on the effectiveness of developers initially being able to build to time and budget, and subsequently being able progressively to reduce costs through experience and economies of scale.' Translation: The nuclear power industry seems incapable of building in anything like the time or costs originally projected, and all the experience so far has proved that the industry is prone to monumental catastophes which have more than neutralised any scope for cost reduction. . .
Write to your MP to demand a decent deal for community renewables!
By
Dave Toke
You can see some arguments in favour of a 'Fixed' Feed-in Tariff on the FOE website, http://www.foe.co.uk/blog/energy_bill_will_give_more_38654.html, and a report I wrote for Friends of the Earth on http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/david_toke_fits.pdf. There are other arguments to suggest that sooner or later we will need a Fixed FIT, and that CfDs need to be replaced. . .
British MP’s want to give priority to nuclear power over renewables and energy efficiency
By
Dave Toke
In an especially brazen piece of pro-nuclear pleading the DECC Select Committee has effectively said that nuclear power should be given cost priority over all green energy options. . .
Renewables face delays as nuclear costs are hidden
By
Dave Toke
The debacle over funding nuclear power is increasingly likely to delay the renewable energy programme. . .
