Not exactly neighbour I must admit - Lee Abbey if anyone is interested (theres no info on their website) - they are a (mostly harmless
) Christian bunch.
Our little group - EREG (exmoor renewable energy group) - consists of me, a timber mill owner, a farmer, said religious dude, and a 500 yr old mill owner. I am the newest member, and the first to get up and running - ironically. The timber mill is owned by a 70 yr old - who whilst as tough as nails, has re-built an old mill, and is making it into an education centre, complete with scary big woodworking machinery (if anyone is in the Dunster area, West Somerset - he is very willing to show sensible people round - its not exactly public friendly yet, with no handrails, and plenty of ways of dying....). Then theres the old mill owner - this has been running for 500+ years almost non stop - and he can make a couple of kw - but he isnt grid tied, and the kit needs condemming
with rubber insulation etc etc. But theres paperwork to sort first. The farmer has a nice spring, and loads of head, but little motivation (
). The god-botherer is up and at-em and is getting on with it.
I didnt bank on the govt nebulous offers - but I am narked that I can't get the same rate as someone who can install the same thing tomorrow. Why? I couldnt - even if I wanted to do the same thing at the next mill along - get the 20p - as the usless "unmarried parents" cant organise some accreditation. All I can say is that I am very lucky that I managed to get into ROCs before it got disbanded, and there was no replacement.....................................................
Rough figues of my current income:-
As is - 15p / unit generated. About £3,500 pa cheque + £1500 saving on leccy bill (conservative estimate) = £5,000 pa
if I got 19.9p + 3p export = £6,500 (guess here)
But I get 9p = £3600
So I'm 'worse' off three grand a year.
Somthing to contemplate - we used 100 tonnes of sand, about 20 tonnes of cement (1000 bags) to replace / repair the leat. There is two tonnes of steel sheet in the wheel. Theres 2,500 bolts. Do you want me to go on?
Hopefully this isnt coming out as a one-upmanship or snobbery - its not meant to be - its just showing why I'm narked at the price difference. Its added many many years to the 'payback' period - almost doubling.
