Wind energy the only way forward for NI

IT seems the fossil-fuelled passions of Alan Love (Write Back, October 20) were ignited when I wrote, “Northern Ireland needs to be leading the way towards clean growth—not stuckin a dirty, fossil-fuelled past, as some denialists would have us (October 17).”

Mr Love says wind farms are subsidised by taxpayers’ money. True. But the cost of offshore wind technology is dropping rapidly.

This was reported in the Belfast Telegraph article, “Offshore wind farm subsidy costs drop to record lows in latest contract round” (News, September 11), which stated: “The cost of subsidies for the technology have fallen 50% since early 2015.”

According to Bloomberg, UK offshore wind could soon provide power subsidy-free. On the other hand, fossil fuels receive a staggering $5 trillion dollars per year in subsidies worldwide, according to a peer-reviewed paper by academics from the International Monetary Fund (bit.ly/ffsub2017).

The UK government gives £6bn a year to fossil fuels — almost double what it provides to renewable energy providers (bit.ly/UKffsub).

Mr Love advised I visit the coast of Great Britain to see the “visual environmental destruction wrought by offshore wind farms”.

On holiday last year in Wicklow, I saw the large offshore wind turbines gracefully generating clean energy in the Irish Sea. They were barely visible.

STEPHEN TREW Lurgan, Co Armagh

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