Onshore Wind Faces U.K. Block

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - The main party in the current U.K. government has promised to stop financing onshore windfarms if it wins the upcoming election next month.

The Conservative Party, the main partner in the current coalition government, is hoping to woo voters by cutting funding for new onshore windfarms, typically the most controversial renewable energy sector. It is also promising to make it easier for local communities to object to block onshore projects.

In its manifesto, the party claimed that it 'will halt the spread of onshore windfarms', claiming they often fail to win public support and are unable by themselves to provide the firm capacity that a stable energy system requires'.

"Making sure that we have a good mixture of reliable energy is an important part of our long-term economic plan to secure a better future for Britain," stated Conservative Energy Minister, Michael Fallon at the launch of the party's election manifesto. We remain committed to cutting our carbon emissions. And renewable energy, including onshore wind, has a key role in our future energy supply. But there is enough bill payer-funded onshore wind in the pipeline to meet our renewable energy commitments. That's why the next Conservative Government will end any additional bill payer subsidy for onshore wind."

The decision will not affect financing for onshore projects already underway or in the development stages. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) puts the collective generating capacity of those projects at 14 gigawatts (GW).

The Conservative's plans for onshore wind have been blasted by the U.K.'s wind and renewable energy bodies.

RenewableUK's Deputy Chief Executive Maf Smith said: "The Conservatives' manifesto spectacularly fails to recognise the high level of support among ordinary voters for onshore wind, which stays consistently at two-thirds of the British public. The Tories have also failed to acknowledge the significant contribution that onshore and offshore wind make to the UK's electricity mix -- currently around 10% of the UK's entire electricity needs, and growing rapidly year on year."

He added: "Onshore wind is one of the cheapest of all sources of energy, so by turning their backs on it, the Tories are proposing to deprive voters of one of the most effective means of keeping all our electricity bills down. So when the Tories claim in their manifesto that they intend to cut carbon emissions as cost-effectively as possible they're being breathtakingly illogical and therefore idiotic. They're also putting at risk 19,000 jobs in the onshore wind industry -- which could rise to over 30,000 in the next decade under a supportive government. The onshore wind sector delivered £1.6 billion in investment in the U.K. last year.

Last month Industrial Info covered the opening of England's largest onshore windfarm, the £98 million ($148 million) Keadby windfarm in Lincolnshire which sports 34 turbines with a total generating capacity of 68-megawatts (MW). For additional information, see March 10, 2015, article - England Opens Largest Onshore Windfarm.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the Industrial Info "Contact Us" page.