An alliance of companies and organisations – including EDF Renewables and Vattenfall – has called on the new government to take a new approach and back onshore wind.
The coalition has written to the new energy minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, and urged him to establish a new onshore wind strategy, which it claims could help the UK reach its target of net zero emissions by 2050.
The letter argues that onshore wind is the “lowest-cost source” of new energy generation and could help support 31,000 extra jobs around the country.
It also warns that a “lack of supportive government policies” for onshore wind means it may not be deployed at the scale required to meet net zero at the least cost – 35GW by 2035.
The letter goes on to claim that “disincentives found within the current policy regime” could prevent the industry from deploying 4.5GW of new onshore wind power through repowering retiring plants.
It also quotes the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendations that onshore wind be allowed to compete in Contracts for Difference (CfD) auctions.
And it reminds the new minister of the government’s own public attitudes tracker, which shows 79 per cent public support for onshore wind, and the recent polling by the Conservative Environment Network, which claimed almost three-quarters of Tory voters back onshore wind.
Last month, the chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, Rachel Reeves wrote to the new business secretary, Andrea Leadsom and called for an end to the government’s “ideological opposition” to onshore wind.
The chief executive of RenewableUK, which is also one of the signatories to the letter, Hugh McNeal said: “It’s great to see such a wide range of companies and organisations speaking with one voice in strong support of onshore wind.
“There are shovel-ready onshore projects across the UK that would bring in billions of pounds of investment, support thousands of jobs and even cut consumer bills. Onshore wind is the cheapest option for new power in the UK and it is essential if we want to achieve net zero emissions.
“We hope the new government will take swift action to let onshore wind compete on a level playing field.”