‘High cost of ban’ on onshore wind turbines revealed

GOVERNMENT policies over the last decade which hampered the roll-out of onshore wind power in Britain might be adding close to a billion pounds to energy bills this winter, new analysis suggests.

Without a 2016 decision to effectively ban the construction of onshore wind in most parts of England, developers could have built enough turbines to generate around 2.5 terawatt hours of energy – enough to power 1.5 million homes through the winter.

The South West pioneered onshore wind power – but strong opposition from many communities facing the noise and visual intrusion of turbines helped to persuade the Government to introduce a ban.

Now, however, it is claimed allowing more onshore wind turbines would have reduced the need to use gas power plants, saving 4.9 TWh of gas which could be used to heat more than half a million homes.

The research came from the Energy and Climate Change Intelligence Unit, which also suggests onshore wind farms would have benefitted from being included in Government-backed funding schemes, the analysis said. Between them, the decisions might have added around £800 million to bills this winter, the researchers claim.