The Conservatives have already made good on one of their pledges with newly appointed energy secretary Amber Rudd planning to stop the creation of more wind farms.
Rudd is fast putting new legislation into place due to start from May 2016 to ban wind farm subsidies and give planning rules back to local communities.
Rudd stated:
“I’ve already got my team working on it. That’s going to be one of the first things we’re going to do.”
The cuts are not expected to affect onshore wind projects already in planning but they’ll still be affected by new rulings, which allow local planning authorities to veto new projects.
Rudd’s planned change to the legislation aims to “put local people back in charge” by requiring all projects to have local consent.
Rudd said,
“We can’t have them on a scale in areas where people don’t want them. Local planning authorities combined with no new subsidies will put local people in charge … there will be a much more accountable democratic process.”
Ruddy heck! That’s a big step towards giving the people a voice with regard to wind farm developments but the new legislation is set to ring alarm bells for investors.
Onshore wind is currently the least expensive way to decarbonise our electricity supply, so these new plans to cut subsidies could lead to higher bills for consumers.
But at least the decision lies with the customers and we have to say we’re a little impressed that the Conservatives are making good on their promises no matter how effective they turn out to be.