Comments On Crida's Approach
Financial Data
The financial data provided is very sketchy and incomplete for a £3m project even for this early stage. For example:
- no detail of how £3m will be spent
- no mention of interest although £150,000 pa is provided for loan repayment
- no detail of how estimated income of £460,000 is derived
- no breakdown of costs so it is not possible to evaluate maintenance costs
- no detail on tax liabilities
Connection to the Grid
No details have been provided as to how the turbines will be connected to the grid or the cost of this.
Info Pack Map
The map included on the Crida info pack is years out of date. For Underton it shows 6 houses where there are actually 15 houses. If this data has been used by Crida, they have assumed significantly fewer homes close to the turbines than exist.
FITS
The income would appear to come from FITS (feed in tariffs). Under FITS 3p per KWh (export tariff) is paid for all electricity supplied to the grid. Under the FITS scheme, funded by a levy on all electrical consumers, a further 9.4p (generation tariff) is paid for all electricity generated as an incentive for green power. This is available for 20 years but is under review by the Government. Without the generation tariff the proposals would not be viable as they provide 75% of the income. Projections of electricity generation through FITS against actual wind strength at Upton Cressett have not been disclosed by Crida.