Government increases subsidies for Offshore Wind
Another nail in the coffin of "cheap" renewables and a competitive economy
The Government has announced big increases in the level of subsidy it will give renewable projects, particularly offshore wind, in next year’s auction called Allocation Round 6 (AR6). A summary of the subsidy increases is shown in Figure 1 below.
Fixed offshore wind subsidies will rise 66% to £73/MWh in 2012 money or £100/MWh in today’s money using the BoE inflation calculator. Floating offshore wind subsidies rise to an eyewatering £241/MWh in today’s money, Geothermal to £215/MWh, solar to £84/MWh and Tidal to a staggering £358/MWh. Strangely, the announcement did not mention onshore wind.
These prices are before the costs of back up power to balance the grid when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining. Moreover, these prices are index-linked so will only ever go up.
By way of comparison, today’s day ahead price for electricity is £98/MWh, which is likely driven by gas. The price of gas-fired electricity is artificially inflated by carbon taxes and the lack of investment in new sources of supply of gas.
Today’s announcement also launched a consultation on how “Sustainable Industry Rewards”, formerly known as non-price factors, could be incorporated into AR7, the 2025 auction process. In other words, the Government is looking at ways of giving an extra bung to offshore wind developers that will increase prices even more.
In a staggering piece of Orwellian doublespeak, Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho claimed:
“This is a vital part of our plan to have enough homegrown clean energy, bringing bills down for families and strengthening our energy independence.”
Dan McGrail, the Chief Executive of RenewableUK and Emma Pinchbeck Chief Executive of Energy UK are both delighted. It is worth noting that both organisations are funded by offshore wind interests. They both claim that these extra subsidies will increase energy security, increase economic growth and create jobs. However, they fail to explain how intermittent technologies increase energy security nor how more expensive energy boosts the economy.
Various other stakeholders, all with vested interests in harvesting renewable subsidies, also expressed their support for the announcement.
Stand by for even higher energy bills and a less competitive economy.
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I warned of this in “My heretic epitaph”: https://metatron.substack.com/p/my-heretical-epitaph?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2.
“UK politicians and the wind power industry have been lying for years about the true, unsubsidised cost of wind power. … Pressing ahead with expensive, short lifespan, unsustainable, low power-density, weather-dependent renewables is certain to lead to ever-higher energy bills and prolonged blackouts”.
This move is proof-positive that our Uniparty politicians (Con/Lab/Lib/SNP) are the deadly enemies of the general public, pushing ahead with the dystopian agenda of their globalist overlords to impoverish us and deindustrialise the economy based on their Malthusian perception that “the real enemy, then, is humanity itself”.
Net Zero Watch sum it up well but I wish they would take off the kid gloves and call it out for the destructive evil it is: https://mailchi.mp/thegwpf/government-has-surrendered-to-green-lobbyists-199528?e=69a42f046a.
Some of us have been fighting against this madness for 20 years and more. Who would have thought that the Guardian nutters campaigning to “keep it in the ground” would eventually come out on top: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/keep-it-in-the-ground-blog.
It’s my children’s generation who have ignored all the warnings they have been given over many years and allowed themselves to be hoodwinked who will pay the biggest price. The UK will end up an economic basket case like Argentina, or worse.
This is so disgusting and corrupt that the fact no British newspaper will do anything but clap its little lefty hands at the greenstortion makes my blood boil. People I used to think were intelligent have mostly been proven to be useful idiots and intellectual gumboils.