Government ‘foolish’ not to exploit onshore wind, says CBI

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has branded the government “foolish” for not allowing onshore windfarms to be exploited.

During the opening session of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) committee’s inquiry into financing green infrastructure, earlier this week, the chief executive of the government’s climate change adviser revealed that onshore wind schemes would be able to submit “very low” bids if they were allowed to participate in the contracts for difference (CfD) process.

Tom Thackray, director of infrastructure and energy at the CBI, told the committee that the business body is keen for the upcoming energy white paper to outline a “way forward” on the financing of onshore wind and solar projects when it is published.

Pointing to the “huge” generation and supply chain benefits in allowing onshore back into the CfD process, he said: “It is foolish that we are not exploiting that.”

He added that it is “really important” for the government to publish the energy white paper before parliament’s summer recess begins next month.

“The major worry is that it gets kicked into the long grass and doesn’t materialise before the recess; business wants to see continued momentum that has built up over the last 12 months,“ he said, adding that the white paper would be a “useful” vehicle for ensuring that other areas of government like transport are considered.

Greg Clark, secretary of state for BEIS, said that the white paper would be published in the summer when he announced it last year.

Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), told the committee that new onshore wind developments would be able to submit cheap bids if they were allowed to compete for CfDs.

“Some projects have been ready for so long that the price discovery if there was an auction would be very low indeed, which would have benefits for the consumer.”

He said that the UK is “just about” on track to achieve its target of an extra 75GW of renewable electricity generation by 2050 if the commitment of 30GW by 2030 outlined in the offshore wind sector deal is delivered.

But Stark said the scale of the renewable electricity rollout required by 2050 could not rely on offshore wind alone.

He said that the more electricity comes on stream, the “more relaxed” the CCC would be about the UK’s ability to meet its emission reduction goals.

Wind power has the added advantage that it can be delivered quickly, the CCC chief executive said, which would help the more rapid rollout of electricity infrastructure.

Stark said an energy white paper would be useful but not necessary given that key policy levers like the CfDs are already in place.

Thackray said that the white paper should also contain proposals for taking forward the use of the regulated asset base mechanism, which allows developers to generate returns while projects are being built, for new nuclear power plants.

“It is possible to have only Hinkley but we will have to have something else like CCS [carbon, capture and storage]. We should do as much as we can through renewables but can’t just have that as the basis for the system.”