David Cameron's plans for wind farms show he is not committed to his climate targets - and it's turning green business against him
If the Conservatives win another term in May, they will end subsidies for onshore wind farms. According to David Cameron, the British public are ‘frankly fed up’ with the onshore wind industry, and he has pledged that under another Conservative government onshore wind turbines would provide no more than 10 per cent of the UK’s energy.
In this pledge, the prime minister has not only shown that his green promises were empty – remember ”vote blue, go green”? – but is ignoring both expert and public opinion.
This week Guy Hands, the founder of investment firm Terra Firma, launched a scathing attack in the Financial Times(£) on Cameron’s renewables policy. He said the Tories had failed to recognise the falling costs of the industry, and accused them of harbouring an ’emotional hatred’ for wind farms. He is the latest business leader to express concern that the Tories could scare off investment at the very moment when costs are falling.
Meanwhile Dale Vince, the founder of green energy supplier Ecotricity, has given an interview explaining his decision to support the Labour party. He says that this election poses an ‘existential threat’ to his industry and to the country:
“Since the last election, (Cameron) has gone from hugging huskies to describing it all as ‘green crap’.”
According to Mr Vince, Ecotricity believe Cameron would extend his cap on onshore wind to solar power if he stays in government – he plans to close the current subsidy scheme for large solar farms. Indeed, it is Mr Vince’s belief that all forms of renewable energy are under threat from the Tories.
But why, when renewable energy is only just getting to where it wants to be?
RenewableUK, the UK’s leading non-profit renewable energy trade association, says that by 2020, onshore wind will be the cheapest form of new electricity generation. In a report released last week they found that:
“Impressive levels of generation capacity are matched by equally impressive financial benefits to the UK economy, with £1.6 billion of investment – £729 million of which was spent in the UK – delivered from projects that were commissioned in 2013/14 alone.”
RenewableUK also found that onshore wind farms will deliver £2.55 million of annual community benefits to local people, as well as the almost £6 million they have already contributed to local councils through business rate payments – equivalent to a lifetime value of £149 million. Furthermore, their taskforce said that if their recommendations were followed, up to £21 per megawatt hour could be cut from today’s wind costs.
They said:
“The next government could choose to work with our industry so that in the next five years, the cost of decarbonisation falls more quickly and UK consumers benefit.”
But David Cameron won’t work with them. He insists that the public have had enough of wind farms, despite the government’s own polling showing that 67 per cent of the public support them.
In their report, RenewableUK acknowleges that there has been ‘a clear and consistent drop in planning approval rates over time’. Analysis by the Fabian Society showed that in 2014, 57 per cent of wind farm applications were rejected, up from from 37 per cent in 2013 and 21 per cent in 2008.
Part of the problem here is with the way these projects are implemented, and too often people feel they are having developments foisted upon them without their say. Communities secretary Eric Pickles has intervened in 50 planning applications since June 2013, rather than allowing local authorities and planning inspectors to make the decisions based on, and adapted to, the needs of the community.
Dale Vince describes how one of the great advantages of renewable energy is that it is decentralised, working on a small scale. Not only does this limit the scale of possible errors, it should ideally allow for more democratic design.
Success stories for wind farms have involved the local community at every level; for example, at the 9.2 MW project at Delabole in Cornwall, local residents were shown several options for the size and number of turbines, and the provider Good Energy adapted its plans according to their preference. Good Energy now offers local residents discount energy bills to make sure they feel the benefits of hosting the farm.
Campaigners have urged Mr Pickles to cease his interventions and allow local authorities to retain control of the planning process – especially as he is clearly hostile to wind power and refuses the majority of applications. (As of September 2014, he had refused 17 out of 19 processed applications; five of the 17 had previously been approved by the Planning Inspectorate.)
The renewable industry has always been clear about the fact that the ultimate aim is to operate without government subsidies, but these need to be withdrawn in a way that is steady and predictable. Prematurely cutting off the wind industry, as David Cameron wants to do, would mean that, in order to reach the renewables targets that he has himself committed to, there would be a long and expensive battle to get support for an alternative energy source off the ground.
Onshore wind farms are working. They are providing clean, sustainable energy which is getting steadily cheaper. Withdrawing support from them at this stage would undermine all this success, and plans to do so show David Cameron’s contempt for both the environment and the public purse.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
20 Responses to “The Tories vs green business”
Scottish Scientist
You are lame one who is conflating what has not been done yet with what cannot be done ever.
I specifically DON’T assume 100% capacity factor. The UK’s peak demand is 52.5 GW. My plan is to install 290 GW of nameplate maximum wind power generation capacity which is able to supply 52.5 GW at only 52.5/290 = 18.1% of maximum capacity.
So if you like I’ve “assumed 18.1% capacity” but actually it is more complicated because I have done a real computer simulation to prove my plan works- which if you were a scientist you’d know all about, but don’t know anything about proving what, exactly?
“level the grid”? WHAT ON EARTH are you mumbling about you fool? With my plan there is hydro-electric power available on demand from the pumped-storage reservoir during times of low or no wind.
My figures are correct.
Gerschwin
Yippee, a bunch of thieving charlatans peddling renewable energy are about to have their life line’s cut off. ‘Bout bloody time too. May they starve.
Scottish Scientist
World’s biggest-ever pumped-storage hydro-scheme, for Scotland?
Blog post – https://scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/worlds-biggest-ever-pumped-storage-hydro-scheme-for-scotland/
Map – https://scottishscientist.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/strathdearn_pumped-storage.jpg
The map shows how and where the biggest-ever pumped-storage hydro-scheme could be built – Strathdearn in the Scottish Highlands.
The scheme requires a massive dam about 300 metres high and 2,000 metres long to impound billions of metres-cubed of water in the upper glen of the River Findhorn. The surface elevation of the reservoir so impounded would be as much as 650 metres when full and the surface area would be as much as 40 square-kilometres.
There would need to be two pumping stations at different locations – one by the sea at Inverness which pumps sea-water uphill via a pressurised pipe to 350 metres of elevation to a water well head which feeds an unpressurised canal in which water flows to and from the other pumping station at the base of the dam which pumps water up into the reservoir impounded by the dam.
The potential energy which could be stored by such a scheme is colossal – thousands of Gigawatt-hours – a minimum of 100 GigaWatt-days, perhaps 200 GW-days or more.
This represents enough energy-storage capacity to serve all of Britain’s electrical grid storage needs for backing-up and balancing intermittent renewable-energy electricity generators, such as wind turbines and solar photovoltaic arrays for the foreseeable future.
The geography of Scotland – the land of the mountain and the flood – is ideal for siting pumped-storage hydro schemes to serve a European energy network infrastructure, with benefits for Scots, Britons and Europeans alike.
Patrick Nelson
At some point in the future the oil (in any large useable amount) will be gone. This is not in doubt, the only disagreement is how soon this even is liable to occur. Any country that hasn’t moved over to renewable energy by then will in deep trouble. Renewable energy is still in it’s infancy. If Britain fails to stay fully engaged with this crucial developing area of technology we (as a country) are liable to regret it one day.
jeffreylmcnabb
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