Two events – at the opposite ends of the scale –
catch our eye this week and must raise questions as to the future
of onshore wind.
The first appeared to have nothing to do with onshore wind, but
the news it carried, and the context introduced by the second
announcement, possibly introduced new doubts that onshore wind was
falling out of favour with the UK Government, and Treasury in
particular. The news was the (otherwise excellent) announcement of
the eight renewable energy projects that had been awarded contracts
for difference under the Final Investment Decision-enabling regime.
The eight projects are in offshore wind and biomass. They are all
large-scale projects that – when completed – will
deliver significant chunks of our low-carbon targets. The political
capital from such projects must look attractive when compared to
onshore wind, which many critics consider to be over-abundant, and
which consistently attract adverse publicity at a local (voting)
level.
