Foreign firms £100bn wind farm subsidies.

Foreign firms’ '£100bn wind farm subsidies’


Energy companies from Europe, the US and China will receive more than £100 billion in subsidies from British consumers to pay for a new generation of offshore wind farms, it was claimed last night.








Photo: PA






By Robert Mendick

8:30AM GMT 03 Feb 2013

Comment




The sums are due to go to the owners of just nine, giant wind farms which are being built in the seas around Britain. The wind farms - on a scale never seen before - will attract subsidies totalling more than £6 billion a year, according to an analysis by an energy think tank. That would equate to £120 billion over the 20-year lifespan of an offshore turbine.


With about 90 per cent of the wind farms in foreign ownership that means companies abroad would receive in the region of £100 billion in subsidies. Those subsidies are paid for through additional sums added on to consumer electricity bills. The figures are disputed by the wind industry.


The subsidies, which were put in place by the Labour Government to encourage the building of wind farms, have been criticised for being far too generous.


The energy companies will - under current payment structures - receive twice as much income from the subsidies than from the actual electricity the wind farms produce.


The Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), a think tank which campaigns against the cost of wind energy and analysed the data, criticised the sacale of the subsidies.



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Dr John Constable, REF’s director, said: “While there is a real case for experimenting with offshore wind, target-driven development on this scale and at this pace is technically and economically reckless.

“Our current green policies give the EU renewable energy targets a higher priority than the economic health of the UK. This is particularly true in relation to offshore wind, where government has simply opened the British electricity consumer’s veins into the sea, and unsurprisingly some very big fish are moving in for the kill.”

Chris Heaton-Harris, a Conservative MP who has coordinated a campaign against wind farm costs, said: “These offshore wind farms are going to put more people into fuel poverty while failing to supply the consistent energy that our economy needs. It is a licence to print money.”

The nine new wind farms, which are expected to be largely operational by 2020 in time to meet green energy targets, are being developed by some of the world’s biggest energy companies. Only two are based in the UK - Centrica and SSE - while the rest have headquarters in Germany, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the US, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. A Chinese energy company has recently bought a large stake in one of the offshore wind farms.

The wind industry describes the nine farms due to come on stream as 'game changers’. By 2020, Britain is committed to providing 15 per cent of its energy from wind farms, both on and off shore. Presently, just 2.5 per cent of the country’s energy needs come from wind.

In 2010, the Crown Estate, which manages the sea bed off Britain’s coastline, held an auction to develop the sites. The largest is at Dogger Bank 100 miles from the east coast of England and covering an area half the size of Wales and will provide power to millions of homes. The annual subsidy paid to the owners of Dogger Bank - once it is fully operational - is estimated to be in the region of £1.7 billion a year, according to REF.

The Crown Estate, which will hope to profit from the sites under development, manages the assets of the monarch. However its assets are not the Queen’s private property and cannot be sold. It is run as a business and all profits go to the Treasury.

A Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesman said: “We are clear that costs must come down and we are working with industry to reduce the cost of offshore wind by around a third by 2020.

“The £6bn or £120bn figures are based on pure speculation. ”

RenewableUK, the body that represents Britain’s wind industry, said that by 2020 offshore wind farms “will provide clean electricity to 12 million British homes at a stable price which the UK can control”.

Nick Medic, RenewableUK’s director of Offshore Renewables, said: “As ever, REF has wildly exaggerated the figures.

“Driving down costs relentlessly is the key. So to pretend that the costs will be the same in 2020 as they are now is ludicrous.

“As always, REF also ignores the fact that the economic benefits outweigh the costs. Companies invested more than £1.5 billion in the UK offshore wind industry last year. More than 47,000 people will employed in the sector by 2020, many of them in highly skilled jobs.”

==================================

It has already been established that Windfarms have very little effect on the Energy crisis, are a blot on the landscape and yet the Government are selling off Areas to Foreign Companies to develop more.!!!!!

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   Wind farms could become 'monuments of a failed civilisation', top environmentalist claims
   

One of the world's top environmentalists has said wind farms risk becoming “monuments of a failed civilisation" as he fights to stop a 275ft turbine being erected near his home.








A wind farm near the village of Bothel in Cumbria, Lake District Photo: Alamy





By Hayley Dixon

11:16AM GMT 04 Feb 2013




Professor James Lovelock, 93, a founding father of the Green movement, is famous for inventing “Gaia Theory” and predicting global warming would wipe out four fifths of the world's population by 2100.


But he has now expressed despair that the original intentions of the movement have been misconstrued as a license to cast aside our “priceless ecological heritage”.


In recent years the scientist has outraged many followers after becoming an advocate of nuclear power and a staunch opponent of wind energy.


Prof Lovelock is protesting against a single turbine at Witherdon Wood, Broadwoodwidger. It is believed he lives or has a property 43 miles away near Barnstaple.


In a letter to Torridge District Council, his local planning authority, Professor Lovelock wrote: "I am an environmentalist and founder member of the Greens but I bow my head in shame at the thought that our original good intentions should have been so misunderstood.



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"We never intended a fundamentalist Green movement that rejected all energy sources other than renewable, nor did we expect the Greens to cast aside our priceless ecological heritage because of their failure to understand that the needs of the Earth are not separable from human needs."

The veteran environmentalist added: "We need to take care that the spinning windmills do not become like the statues on Easter Island - monuments of a failed civilisation."

The proposed tower would be installed in woodland close to his home in Broadwoodwidger, Devon. It has attracted fierce opposition from locals and he has now thrown his scientific reputation behind their campaign.

Professor Lovelock's Gaia theory energised the green movement after its formulation in the 1960s and made him a global icon in the fight against climate change.

He theorised that the Earth is a single self-regulating organism - and therefore will adapt itself to see off threats to its eco system.

He predicted the planet would survive but warned humans would not be so lucky and would have to migrate to the Arctic to stand any chance of surviving.

But in recent years Professor Lovelock has dismayed his followers by questioning renewable energy and advocating nuclear power as how to cut carbon emissions.

In 2009 he launched a blistering attack on Ed Miliband's claim that opposing wind farms should become as socially unacceptable as failing to wear a seatbelt.

He said: "The right to have public hearings over energy sources is threatened by legislation soon due.

''Although well-intentioned it is an erosion of our freedom and draws near to what I see as fascism."

The North Devon branch of the Green Party said it would continue to promote wind energy despite the disapproval of its most famous member.

Last week two wind turbines in Cornwall and Devon toppled over in high winds - sparking fears the towers could have been sabotaged.

Spokesman Ricky Knight said: "Professor Lovelock remains one of the most respected ecologists of our time.

"It would be preposterous for grass-roots activists to query his assertions, when they are clearly motivated by his concern for the survival of the planet. However, it is defensible to query his focus."

Although just a single turbine, Ecotricity, the developers, claim it would generate about 2.20 million units of electricity every year, which is the equivalent of about 529 homes powered through clean, renewable energy.

"We think it’s a great site for a single but significant wind turbine," said the website.

edward smethurst won't be happy

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/1857924.east_lancs_solicitor_leads_madeleine_hunt/

Professor James Lovelock, 93, a founding father of the Green movement, is famous for inventing “Gaia Theory” and predicting global warming would wipe out four fifths of the world's population by 2100."

I think it will be more like an Ice Age.!!

jd16...that's the first photo I have seen of Smethurst, I like this bit;-


"The solicitor has been tasked with managing and directing the legal teams in the UK and Portugal." So he is directing Carter Ruck and Isobel Duarte???

I remember reading that Smethurst had bought a property in the Midlands and converted a Barn without planning permission....he should know better. He is also a Freemason

That's the first photo I have seen of Smethurst,

Sorry to have put you through this...Should have pre warned you!!

"AN East Lancashire solicitor is leading a private investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance"..... So they were making their own private investigation (not just directors of No Stone Unturned Ltd) & with brian kennedy jumping on all the witnesses which make some of them say they felt like pawns in a game

I think they are part of a bigger team that are directing Carter Ruck and Isobel Duarte, though if you look at Carter Ruck's client list you can see the general picture (Church of Scientology, for example)

Re Wind farms....There was a big push at the time for Nuclear energy spearheaded by blair/brown

jd16 wrote:

That's the first photo I have seen of Smethurst,

Sorry to have put you through this...Should have pre warned you!!

"AN East Lancashire solicitor is leading a private investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance"..... So they were making their own private investigation (not just directors of No Stone Unturned Ltd) & with brian kennedy jumping on all the witnesses which make some of them say they felt like pawns in a game

I think they are part of a bigger team that are directing Carter Ruck and Isobel Duarte, though if you look at Carter Ruck's client list you can see the general picture (Church of Scientology, for example)

Re Wind farms....There was a big push at the time for Nuclear energy spearheaded by blair/brown

I'm not sure now how much sway the McCanns have with Government and people in high places. According to Vanity Fair Gordon Brown relegated them a few months after Madeleine disappearance. And even the most stalwart supporter after almost 6 yrs must know Madeleine will not be found, dead or alive.
I hate those Windfarms, they spoil landscapes, and are only saving 5% of costs. Nuclear Energy is clean and the best , but very dangerous and the few disasters concerning leaks etc make it impossible to consider as an alternative. Had they not been so keen to shut down the Coal Mines, destroy whole Communities, waste 300 yrs supply of coal I think with experimentation and dedication someone would have come up with completely smokeless fuel. Fracking is the latest, but this has not been fully tested . Not so long ago someone was telling me they are going to the Earth's core to extract the heat......that's playing with fire for me. Sorry about that.!

"There can't be any legal prosecutions if Madeleine was taken and is returned, and that would prove the innocence of Gerry and Kate."

Don't understand that bit.



Those things make a HUGE noise and look ghastly.

Panda wrote:Professor James Lovelock, 93, a founding father of the Green movement, is famous for inventing “Gaia Theory” and predicting global warming would wipe out four fifths of the world's population by 2100."

I think it will be more like an Ice Age.!!

jd16...that's the first photo I have seen of Smethurst, I like this bit;-


"The solicitor has been tasked with managing and directing the legal teams in the UK and Portugal." So he is directing Carter Ruck and Isobel Duarte???

I remember reading that Smethurst had bought a property in the Midlands and converted a Barn without planning permission....he should know better. He is also a Freemason

The Masons and their dodgy handshakes appear again....