UK Energy Minister Flouts Requests for Higher OW Subsidies

Greg Barker, UK Minister for Energy and Climate Change, has denied requests made by the industry for higher subsidies for offshore wind farms.

Financial support will be reduced by 13 % over the next five years, nevertheless, Minister Barker said that these subsidy levels were high enough, even though the UK Government was advised that the offshore wind backing is being cut too harshly, the Telegraph informs.

Over 15 years, offshore wind farms, which are scheduled to be operational from 2014/2015, will get GBP 155 per megawatt-hour (MWh), and those that will generate power from 2018/2019 will get GBP 20 less per MWh.

“We believe that what we have set will be sufficient to drive the necessary scale of investment and strikes the right balance between the interests of the consumer and the necessary return for investors to ensure we deliver the capacity,” the Telegraph cites Minister Barker as saying.

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Offshore WIND Staff, September 23, 2013; Image: DECC