By Paul Homewood
The logic of floating wind farms is that they can operate in much deeper waters, thus accessing stronger winds. The corollary is therefore that they should provide cheaper power.
Net Zero Watch brands new windfarm subsidy ‘obscene’
Green Volt project could be handed annual half billion pound subsidy
Net Zero Watch has revealed the astonishing scale of subsidies likely to be received by a windfarm planned for Scottish waters. The Green Volt floating offshore windfarm could hand its backers around £500 million pounds per year in subsidies. The project received official approval from Marine Scotland last week.
Because it is a floating windfarm, it is eligible for a much higher level of subsidies than fixed-bottom or onshore windfarms. At the launch of the most recent subsidy auction, the Government announced that it had raised the maximum price for floating windfarms to around £240 per megawatt hour [1], around four times current market prices. If the whole windfarm is subsidised at this level, consumers will probably have to pay more than £500 million per year in subsidy [2].
Net Zero Watch director Andrew Montford said:
At a time when families are already struggling, this is obscene. It is clear that the Government has completely lost control, and the renewables industry is simply writing themselves blank cheques whenever they like.
Notes for editors
[1] In 2024 prices. Contracts for Difference are awarded in 2012 prices and then uplifted for inflation. The price announced for offshore capacity was £176/MWh, equivalent to £243 in current pries.
[2] Subsidy at this level would require Greenvolt to be successful in several consecutive CfD auctions.
[3] Based on the capacity factor achieved by the extant Hywind floating windfarm
[4] Approximate average since start of February.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Paul Homewood
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.