RenewableUK, the trade and professional body for the wind and marine energy industries, today welcomed a well-judged call for the debate on wind policy to be based on evidence.
In a new report – “Beyond The Bluster – Why Wind Power Is An Effective Technology”, the Institute for Public Policy Research demonstrates that wind is both an effective way of reducing carbon emissions and a secure source of energy for the UK.
The study highlights evidence from countries such as Spain, Portugal and Ireland which already generate similar proportions of electricity from wind to those proposed in the UK for 2020 in a reliable way, feeding clean energy into the grid without any difficulties.
The report comes only days after a major electricity company revealed that the wholesale price of gas was the single biggest driver of their decision to increase bills, risking thousands of households falling into fuel poverty by depending too heavily on fossil fuels. In contrast, wind energy costs the average UK household just 2p a day.
RenewableUK’s Chief Executive, Maria McCaffery, said:
“Today’s report provides further useful evidence that wind works, and that electricity systems across Europe are utilising very efficiently the higher levels of wind power that the UK will achieve by 2020, when a fifth of our electricity will come from wind.”
“The benefits of this are huge – tens of thousands of jobs, billions of pounds of investment and protection for consumers against sudden wholesale price increases. “
“The Government needs to press ahead with its plans for electricity market reform and give clarity and stability to investors. Ministers should not get distracted by noise created by a small anti-wind minority. Two thirds of the British public are in favour of more wind energy. International evidence shows it’s wholly viable, and yet we’re still not taking full advantage of it in terms of deployment. In the meantime, British families are still being hit hard by rising wholesale fossil fuel prices. It’s time for a concerted effort to boost our wind deployment.”
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Offshore WIND staff, August 30, 2012; Image: statkraft