I think the point made here is actually illustrative of a much wider argument about how renewable energy could be better introduced.  Microgeneration is a strategy that has been successfully trialled elsewhere in Europe, notably Germany, and involves houses producing their own energy.  At first, this may strike one as rashly casting aside the economies of scale inherent in centralising electricity generation, but when one considers the renewable resources available to each plot of land the size of a house (and potentially a garden) it ceases to seem so foolhardy: a solar panel on the roof pays for itself in as little as nine to eighteen years for the average family, a small wind turbine can subsidise those winter heating bills and why not add a solar cell or two for good measure?  These approaches not only harness resources that are unavailable to the commercial energy giants, but they also give individuals and communities a sense of ownership of the projects, allowing them to make tangible savings in the financial and environmental cost of their activities.

In the light of the inherent individualism of this strategy, it is perhaps not immediately apparent as to how governments should promote microgeneration.  In my view, however, simple steps forward would be to require all new houses to be fitted, say, with one reasonably sized solar panel and adopt a proposal whereby households could sell excess energy generated back to the National Grid.