Edwin ... 'Two countries divided by a common language' 😄 (can't remember who's quote that is?)
I reckon you're pretty well placed in terms of climate for your payback. .... as I look out of the window at leaden skies and the rain dripping off my solar array ... in June!! 🙂)
Domestic subsidies aside .... having been solely reliant on renewables for 35 years, the industry has always had a murky relationship with candour. In terms of the Big-Boys (who provide the power that comes out of Joe Average's sockets) both they and Government have an interest in avoiding informed scrutiny ... they may be altruistic and glossing things to get us past the 'teething' stage to where economies of scale improve the figures ... or maybe not! 🙂
I guess the only way you'd get hard, unvarnished, facts would be to pick a new development (there's some individual offshore projects just starting up here) .... as stand alone projects they will have books that will be in the public domain ... then get the sort of forensic accountant they send after organised crime and go through the lot, picking up all the subsidies, wheeling and dealing between group companies and tax breaks etc then comparing the bare commercial costs against returns from energy sales of their completed output.
Far too many hands in far too many pockets to trust much else 😄
K
