Onshore wind farms are not the answer, Sunak insists

RISHI SUNAK has pledged not to lift a ban on building onshore wind farms if he wins the contest to become the next prime minister.

But the former chancellor would reverse Boris Johnson’s plan to allow communities to host turbines in return for cheaper electricity supplies. And he vowed to introduce a legal target for Britain to become energy self-sufficient by 2045 by overseeing a massive expansion of offshore wind farms.

David Cameron effectively banned new onshore wind farms in 2016 by excluding them from government subsidies for green electricity. Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, has been pushing for that to be overturned but more than 100 Tory MPS have privately lobbied No 10 against a change.

“Wind energy will be an important part of our strategy, but I want to reassure communities that as prime minister I would scrap plans to relax the ban on onshore wind in England, instead focusing on building more turbines offshore,” Mr Sunak said. There is hostility towards wind farms in many rural areas because of the noise they generate and the fact some people think they blight the landscape.

Turbines placed offshore are more efficient and reliable than those on land, but they cost significantly more to build and maintain.

Last month, the price of electricity

‘I would scrap plans to relax the ban on onshore wind in England and focus on building offshore turbines’

from offshore wind fell to its lowest price and it is now four times cheaper than gas-generated electricity.

Mr Sunak has also pledged to reestablish as a separate entity the Department of Energy that was absorbed by the Department of Business in 2016 and to create a new Energy Security Committee before winter.

The former chancellor also said he was committed to Net Zero by 2050, “but that can’t mean neglecting our energy security”.