Government maintains pro-wind stance despite opposition from 101 MPs

The Government and the renewable energy industry have together rebuffed the disapproval laid out by a group of MPs, who have called for cuts to be made to onshore wind farm subsidies. Alex Blackburne looks into it.

Wind technology is arguably the most readily available renewable energy that the UK has in its armoury. Yet ever since its commercialisation, there has been staunch opposition from a select group of MPs.

Earlier this month, Blue & Green Tomorrow wrote about the annoying perils of climate change scepticism, including how Chris Heaton-Harris, a Conservative MP, had set up an All Party Parliamentary Group to halt the expansion of onshore wind farms.

And now, Heaton-Harris has fronted a letter signed by a number of MPs from his party and others that labels wind power as “inefficient and intermittent”, and suggests that subsidies should be “dramatically cut”.

It should come as no surprise to those up-to-date with the media agenda, that the letter was exclusively published by the inherently anti-wind Sunday Telegraph.

After Chris Huhne’s resignation last week, the installation of the new energy and climate change secretary, Ed Davey, was met with immediate calls of decisiveness from the renewable industry.

“There may have been a change at the helm, but there’ll be no change in direction or ambition”, Davey said on Monday.

He is understood to be on the same wavelength as Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, who, also on Monday, said, “The choice for the UK is simple: wake up, or end up playing catch up”, issuing the MPs in opposition with a stark reminder as to the Government’s position.

Gaynor Hartnell, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association, applauded the Government for maintaining its stance.

“We are pleased to see Clegg, Cameron and Davey all standing firm in their commitment to wind in the face of this latest campaign from the Tory backbenches”, she said.

“Onshore wind is one of the most cost-effective renewables in the UK.

“If we cut back on our aspirations for it, the overall costs of renewables will increase because we will have to draw on more expensive technologies instead”.

It’s astonishing just how much opposition there is against wind technology. The Guardian published an interactive map showing every wind farm in the UK, including “the MPs who hate” each of them.

Blue & Green Tomorrow will continue to express the need for clean, green, renewable energy, and wind power ticks all three boxes perfectly.

Therefore, to wholly brush off any kind of opposition from MPs, investment in renewable technologies is the key.

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Picture source: Scott Wilcoxson