The hard facts behind wind and solar power

RENEWABLES developers always quote maximum capacity in planning applications, which is quadruple the long-term average of less than 25% for wind turbines. They also quote the number of households that maximum capacity could feed, but never disclose that the occupiers of thousands of households all need other electricity for their schools, offices, factories, hospitals, heavy industry, machinery, transport, public lighting, libraries, shops etc.

UK electric consumption by sector is: residential 37%; industry 30%; services 27%; other 4%; transport 2%. Domestic houses, flats and apartments only consume 37% of the Grid.

RWE Renewables claimed for the 32.8MW Mynydd y Gwair wind farm: “The project supplies enough clean energy to power 22,600 households.

The project cost is $64.89m.” That is at maximum operating output, but needs a simple check – the wind industry accepts a 25% average efficiency, which equates to 5,650 households in reality. However, 63% of that electricity is necessary for other purposes – the infrastructure in which we live – which takes us down to 2,090 houses benefiting from the site. Thus, in any claim for households supplied from wind farms, divide that claim by 11.

The large Maes Mawr solar “park”, proposed for the Treforest area, is quoted as being able, with 30MW, to power 7,000 homes. However, at only 10% average efficiency (again, a figure accepted by the industry), that reduces to 3MW (3,000KW) to supply just 700 homes. Again, 63% of that electricity is necessary for our infrastructure. In reality it will supply 259 houses – not 7,000. In the case of solar power, divide the claim by 27.

People accept these figures from developers without question, just as local politicians claim that “thousands of jobs” are being created by renewables. Have you ever seen anyone on a wind or sun power site?

However, every single application seems to be passed in the Welsh Government’s race for an unachievable and ruinous “zero carbon” economy. Indeed, to meet the National Grid’s projections of Wales increasing its wind-generated electricity to England, by 2030 all of the existing 75 onshore planning applications across Wales for some of the most powerful wind farms in the world, will be passed. Welsh wind-powered electricity exports of 2TWhrs to England in 2021 are scheduled to increase 17.5 times to a massive 35TWhrs by 2030. Has there been an agreement with the Welsh Government for this to happen?

National Grid maps show wind power flow arrows from Scotland and Wales into England, making a mockery of the intentions of those nations to become “green”. And just think of the thousands of extra pylons and power lines heading towards the borders, where they will be sunk underground. A current producer of wind energy, the north of England will become a net consumer by 2030.

This is why the proposed Nant Mithill site in Radnor, near the English border, will have its energy transmitted by 60 miles of pylons down to Carmarthen to link with the pylons carrying Pembroke gas-fired electricity to England. From 2015 to the present no wind farms have been built in England. Are we idiots? By 2030 nowhere will have the same density of wind turbines as tiny Wales. In 2022, across Europe, orders for new wind turbines were down 47% on 2021. At least some countries are seeing reason. Terry Breverton, Penarth