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I don't know enough about the guy to give an honest answer to that.  He was trained as an economist at the University of Minnesota.  No obvious bias at first glance.

I don't buy the grid argument, but I do think that there's a very simple recognition here that PV is the problem.  It's never going to develop into commercial level installations, and that's the point of these FITs.  The Spanish government recognizes that done right FITs can be used to help develop local industries.  There is already a wind energy cluster in Spain.  There's a developing thermo-solar cluster, and and even newer one for wave energy.  These all tie into established manufacturing bases in the north of Spain.

Wind drew upon the massive machine tool industry in the Basque Country.  Thermo-solar connects into companies making mirrors for autos.  And wave energy will employ the shipbuilding capacity in the region.  This is as much about building Spanish industry as it is about an energy policy.

That said, the current FIT in Spain come from 2 sources.  Royal Decree 1578/2008 specifies rates for the PV sector, and Royal Decree 661/2007 covers rates for the rest of the renewables sector.  I'll post a copy of these rates later.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Sat May 1st, 2010 at 11:21:26 AM EST
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