Windfarm subsidy faces huge cut
Sunday 03 June 2012
Related articles
Treasury officials are drawing up plans for swingeing cuts in state support for onshore wind-farms, it was claimed last night. This is a dramatic move that threatens to undermine David Cameron's claim to lead the greenest government ever.
The Chancellor, George Osborne, has demanded a 25 per cent cut in a subsidy regime that is worth some £400m a year to the industry, according to a report in The Observer.
The cost-cutting move is believed to have opened up a split with Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary, whose party has a long-standing commitment to developing the renewable energy market.
But the veteran Tory MP Tim Yeo, who is chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, complained that Mr Davey's department was being stifled by Treasury demands.
He said: "This is an example of where the Department of Energy and Climate Change's attempts to stimulate renewable energy are being hamp-ered by Treasury intervention.
"The way to deal with this – and realise the savings the Treasury wants to achieve – is to have more onshore renewable energy, which requires lower levels of subsidy, and less offshore, which requires more. We need to change the balance."
Claims of a Treasury move against onshore subsidies will improve Mr Osborne's standing among his own MPs, which has been flagging in recent weeks following a string of U-turns on his Budget announcements. In February, more than 100 Tory backbenchers wrote to the Prime Minister demanding cuts to the multimillion-pound public subsidies for wind-farms, which they see as evidence of too much Lib Dem influence.
Chris Heaton-Harris, a Tory MP who led the backbench campaign for cuts, told The Observer he was greatly encouraged by the suggestions that Mr Osborne had listened to his colleagues.
"I want to see a dramatic cut," he said, arguing that onshore wind power was expensive compared with gas and that it would drive up fuel poverty.
But Juliet Davenport, chief executive of the renewable electricity supplier Good Energy, said the move was "a reckless act of political opportunism" designed to boost Mr Osborne's popularity among his own MPs.
Gordon Edge, policy director at the industry group RenewableUK, said: "It is crackers to kill dead the deployment of the cheapest renewable technology if you genuinely are worried about the cost."
From the blogs
“I’m not going to do ANYTHING for you”
Time for the monthly treat from David Hayes, who writes about British politics for the Australian In...
Dish of the Day: Could new brews win over craft beer drinkers?
Cask ale brewers don’t come much bigger than Marston’s. In fact the brewery, which also owns thousan...
Nadine Dorries’s new business: an engineering consultancy that has become a media consultancy
Nadine Dorries talks freely about many things, but not whether she was paid to go on I'm a Cleberity...
Children’s Books: Recommended read – ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness
Thirteen-year-old Conor awakes in bed one night to discover that the yew tree outside his house has ...
-
Lord Lawson's climate-change think tank risks being dismantled after complaint it persistently misled public
-
'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong': The true effect of the badger cull
-
Mind how ewe go: the sheep-eating killer plant that’s ready to bloom
-
The 10 best folding bikes
-
10 best hiking boots
- 1 Diary of Second World War German teenager reveals young lives untroubled by Nazi Holocaust in wartime Berlin
- 2 Bosses of collapsed banks should be sent to jail, banking standards commission tells George Osborne
- 3 Breaking the Silence: In the reality of occupation, there are no Palestinian civilians – only potential terrorists
- 4 Uri Geller psychic spy? The spoon-bender's secret life as a Mossad and CIA agent revealed
- 5 Vice pulls 'breathtakingly tasteless' fashion shoot glorifying the suicides of famous female authors from Sylvia Plath to Virginia Woolf
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
How will you make today delicious?
Tell us how you plan to make today delicious and you could win a £50 M&S gift card.
Learn a new language
Add another string to your bow with Rosetta Stone, whether it's Spanish, Italian or Mandarin...
Making reading fun for kids
Nook is donating eReaders to volunteers at high-need schools and participating in exclusive events throughout the campaign.
Introducing the 'Get Reading' campaign
Get the latest on The Evening Standard's campaign to get London's children reading.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
iJobs General
Senior Electrical Engineering Consultant – Renewable Energy Grid Connections.
Negotiable Depending on Experience: The Green Recruitment Company: The Green R...
BREEAM Consultant
£25000 - £30000 Per Annum: The Green Recruitment Company: The Green Recruitmen...
Design Engineer - ProE, Hand Calcs
Negotiable: Progressive Recruitment: Dear Sumadhab, A growing engineering comp...
Year 6 Teacher / Year Group Leader
Negotiable: Randstad Education Ilford: We are currently recruiting for a Year ...
First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention
Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title


Comments