Onshore Wind Farm Subsidies to End In 2016

Government subsidies for onshore wind farms are to end on 1st April 2016, a year earlier than initially laid out by the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition. There will be a grace period for projects that already have planning permission. According to figures from the DECC, in 2014 over £800m of Government subsidies helped onshore wind to generate 5% of the UK’s total electricity, and the UK is well on the way to meeting its climate change targets for 2020.

Since then, the government’s climate change advisors have asked the government to explain how this withdrawal of support will affect the cost of meeting our greenhouse gas emission targets and urgently set out plans for alternative electricity generation. Wind is the UK’s cheapest renewable energy source and any alternative plan is expected to cost more. The government must respond to this request by the autumn.

In another move that could further impacts the development of wind, the government has also announced that new planning rules will means wind turbines will only get the go-ahead if they have been clearly backed by local people in a Local or Neighbourhood Plan. (See the item below titled ‘Neighbourhood Planning Support’ if you would like support in this area.)

www.cse.org.uk/news/view/2003