Hydro power funding

Regular readers will recall that Audlem Online reported that a bid was submitted in January to the Communities Secretary of State, Hazel Blears, for £165,000 to fund a small hydro-electricity scheme on the canal as it runs through Audlem. That bid was through local MP Stephen O'Brien as that would increase the chances of a reply ever being received.

After several promptings, we are delighted to report that a reply has just been received from the Minister of State at the Department of Energy, Mike O'Brien MP. We are not, however, sure what the answer means but would welcome any translation that might clear up if the answer is "Yes", "No", "Unsure", "Maybe" or "Go Away and stop troubling me"! We reproduce the answer in full:

Dear Stephen (O'Brien)

Thank you for your letter of 28 January to Hazel Blears, enclosing correspondence from your constituent, Mike Hill, of Audlem Parish Council, about their pre-feasibility study on hydropower on the Shropshire Union Canal. I am replying as this matter falls within my portfolio and I apologise for the lengthy delay in doing so.

The Low Carbon Buildings Programme Phase 2 provides grants for the installation of small scale on site energy technologies to charities and public sector organisations. However, the technologies covered by this grant are restricted to solar photovoltaics, solar thermal hot water, wind turbines, ground source heat pumps and biomass.

We are already providing support for small scale renewables through the Renewables Obligation (RO). From April 2009. small scale (less than 50 kW) generators will receive 2 Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) for every 1 MWh of renewable energy generated. A small scale generator, depending on the size of their export, could expect to receive 2-4 ROCs per year. Small scale generators can sell their ROCs – with or without the associated electricity – to electricity suppliers, who are obliged to to present a certain number to Ofgem at the end of the year.

Whilst we have introduced changes over the past few years to make it easier for small generators to access support through the Renewables Obligation, we believe that a Feed-in Tariff (FIT) is a more appropriate support mechanism at this scale. We therefore took powers in the Energy Act 2008 to introduce a FIT for generators up to a maximum of 5MW, which we are committed to having in place in April 2010.

We are currently working to develop recommendations on the design of the FIT mechanism, including the tariff levels and the period during which they will apply, the detail of of which we will consult on in summer 2009.

Later this spring, we will launch a new Renewable Energy Strategy, setting out measures to meet our 15% target. As part of the Renewable Energy Strategy, we will bring forward our more detailed proposals on feed-in tariffs for small scale low carbon electricity and incentives for renewable heat. In the light of these decisions, we will be in a position to set out in detail the expected contribution of on-site generation alongside other kinds of electricity and heat generation.
Yours ever
Mike O'Brien

Audlem Online says: We must make it clear that although the correspondence is from Mike O'Brien to Stephen O'Brien, they are not related. As for the letter from the minister, we welcome any attempts to translate it. Curiously, the letter makes no mention of the Government's plans to develop numerous hydro schemes on canals which was announced as recently as March 11th by another department, that dealing with Climate Change – as reported on Audlem Online below.

The Parish Plan team will now consider submitting a further request for the £165,000.

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