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Monday, 16 July 2012

Madness: UK subsidies for wind power over £1billion this year

"No developer will build windfarms without subsidies. Electricity companies are compelled to buy this expensive electricity. Both are funded by an extra charge on every electricity bill. This is not a government subsidy, which would be open for scrutiny. We are now paying £1 billion a year." nowind.org.uk 

The Daily Telegraph reports that wind farm subsidies (paid for by UK taxpayers) are expected to top a billion pounds this year for the first time.


The UK government is soon expected to announce a cut of the subsidies, but the the decision could be postponed because of Whitehall internal wrangling. (Liberal Climate Change Secretary, warmist Edward Davey would like to keep the reduction as small as possible, whereas Conservative MPs have been fighting for cuts of about 25%).

According to an analysis of official figures by the think-tank Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), the total annual subsidy for onshore and offshore wind farms has, for the first time, topped £1billion. REF estimates that on current renewable energy targets – and with only modest cuts – the energy companies will have received £100 billion in subsidies by 2030.
REF said it expects 10 companies, between them, to pocket £800million through subsidies over the next 12 months.
The biggest winner is Dong Energy, a Danish energy company, which is on course to earn more than £156 million in subsidies through its British wind farms.
The next highest earner is Vattenfall, a state-owned Swedish energy conglomerate, which will earn £128 million from its wind farms. Out of the top 10, only two of the companies are British-owned – Centrica, which will receive £58 million in subsidy and SSE, which is due £53 million.
Read the entire article here

And this comes at a time when UK taxpayers are facing this future:


Tax rises and spending cuts worth up to £68billion are needed on top of the £123billion already planned to stop the public finances spiralling out of control, said the Office for Budget Responsibility.


If David Cameron wants to get re-elected, he should stop this madness, and remove the subsidies entirely! 


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