The recently-appointed head of RenewableUK has said the prospects of building new wind turbine parcs in England are slim because the weather is not windy enough and because of the withdrawal of state subsidies. Hugh McNeal, who quit a senior civil service job at DECC to take up the post of chief executive at Renewable UK, told the Sunday Telegraph that the industry could make the case for more onshore turbines in some parts of the UK, despite the withdrawal of subsidies. But he said this would “almost certainly” not be in England, as the wind speeds were not high enough to make the projects economically viable without subsidy.
Scottish Energy News 6th June 2016 read more »
Daily Mail 5th June 2016 read more »
The Prime Minister was unequivocal. “Enough is enough,” he told MPs in the run-up to the general election. “I think the public are, frankly, fed up with so many wind farms being built that won’t be necessary. “We don’t need to have more of these subsidised onshore.” A year on from the election of the Conservative Government, which swiftly implemented its pledge to end subsidies for onshore wind and promised to stop the headlong pursuit of green energy at all costs, one might expect to find a defeated wind industry sombre and resentful. Yet as a new chief executive, Hugh McNeal, takes the helm of its trade body, RenewableUK, the industry appears defiantly confident that it can still carve out a future for wind, both offshore, and on. The challenge it faces, in both cases, is proving the technologies offer value for money. For onshore, the obstacle remains the Tory ban on subsidies.
Telegraph 5th June 2016 read more »