LONDON --
The U.K. Conservative Party will end all subsidies to onshore wind
power if they win the next election, a move that the industry said would
end deployment of the country’s cheapest form of renewable energy.
The Conservatives, who govern in coalition with the Liberal
Democrats, will end subsidies for onshore wind through consumer bills
after the election scheduled for May 7, 2015, Energy Minister Michael
Fallon said today in e-mailed remarks. They’ll also devolve planning
decisions to local authorities, he said.
“We now have enough bill-payer-funded onshore wind in
the pipeline to meet our renewable energycommitments and there’s no
requirement for any more,” Fallon said. “That’s why the next
Conservative Government will end any additional bill payer subsidy for
onshore wind, and give local councils the decisive say on any new wind
farms.”
The move seeks to end the spread of unpopular
developments in rural areas where many Conservatives lawmakers have
constituencies. Fallon’s comments were criticized by environmentalists,
the industry’s main lobby group and the Liberal Democrats.
“Putting the brakes on onshore wind would be
disastrous for business and jobs in our growing green economy,” Energy
Secretary Ed Davey, a Liberal Democrat who is Fallon’s superior in the
energy department, said in an e-mailed statement. “Onshore wind is one
of the cheapest forms of green energy, so cutting it could lead to
higher bills.”
Globally, onshore wind costs about $85 per
megawatt-hour of power produced, according to levelized cost of energy
data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That compares with $84 for gas,
$82 for coal, $140 for solar and $189 for offshore wind.
Expensive Technology
“Cutting all support overnight amounts to a
moratorium,” Maria McCaffery, chief executive officer of the RenewableUK
lobby group, said in an e-mailed statement. “Limiting onshore wind
means having to rely on more expensive technologies to keep the lights
on, increasing our dependency on costly fossil-fuel imports and exposure
to price hikes.”
Fallon said the Conservatives remain committed to
cutting the country’s carbon emissions and that renewables have a “key
role” to play. At the same time, wind farms are unpopular in rural
areas, where opponents say they are a blot on the landscape.
A third of Conservative lawmakers, organized by
parliamentarian Chris Heaton-Harris, signed a letter in January 2012
urging Prime Minister David Cameron to cut subsidies for onshore wind. “We have already fought the Conservatives over capping onshore wind in this government –- and won,” Davey said.
‘Sabotage’
Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party,
said that Britain will have to “embrace” onshore wind if his party wins
the election, though developments would have to be done in a “sensitive”
way, the Daily Mail reported on April 22.
Today, the Conservatives proposed handing planning
decisions for large-scale onshore wind farms to local government.
Presently they’re decided on at a national level under infrastructure
planning rules. It also said it would amend planning policy to provide
more protection to “locally valued landscape, heritage and other
concerns.” The move to curtail onshore wind will “sabotage”
energy security and hamper efforts to cut carbon emissions, the
environmental group Greenpeace said in an e-mailed statement.
On Target
Davey told reporters in London yesterday that onshore
wind has a “huge future” in the U.K., with 7.2 gigawatts already
operating, more than 6 gigawatts with planning permission and another 6
gigawatts working its way through the planning system.
All of the onshore wind projects needed for the U.K.
to meet its binding European Union target to derive 15 percent of all
energy from renewables by 2020 have already received consent, according
to the Conservatives. The party said 12.3 gigawatts of total generating
capacity from onshore wind is likely to be reached by 2020.
“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,” Fallon said. “We remain committed to cutting
our carbon emissions. And renewable energy, including onshore wind, has
a key role in our future energy supply.”
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/04/u-k-onshore-wind-power-will-lose-subsidies-conservatives-say
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