Letter from the Editor: Can onshore wind find favour again?

Listen carefully, and you can hear the jungle drums beating. A campaign is afoot, for a return to the building of onshore windfarms. It can surely be no coincidence that in the past week, no less than three industry-leading individuals or bodies have publicly called for a return of public subsidies for onshore wind.

Emboldened, no doubt, by the record low prices achieved by offshore wind in the recent contracts for difference auctions, supporters of renewable technology have started speaking out. It started with Energy UK, which published a punchy open letter from chief executive Lawrence Slade to Dieter Helm, warning the professor it would “seriously question” his cost of energy review if it failed to acknowledge that withholding subsidy from the cheapest renewable technologies – such as onshore wind – ultimately puts up bills for customers.

Then came Scottish Power Renewables, with a well-timed report highlighting the economic benefits of onshore wind, and even playing the electric vehicles card, claiming that more onshore wind power is “essential” to meet the increased demand EVs will place on the grid. While this last claim may be a bit of a stretch, the report’s argument that including onshore wind in a public auction would “drive fierce competition in the industry and ultimately bring down costs for consumers” is harder to dismiss.

Finally, and most notably for the government, Labour peer and chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, Lord Adonis, told the Labour party conference that the government should not stand in the way of onshore windfarms in places such as the Highlands and the Islands of Scotland and Wales where they have public support.

Renewable energy has passed the tipping point. National Grid announced this week that the UK had its greenest summer ever, with the majority of power produced from renewable sources. The success of offshore wind in the recent auction is a talking point not just in Whitehall and utility boardrooms, but across the country. It’s time to fight nimbyism and allow onshore wind on to the newly level playing field between traditional and renewable sources of power.

• The Labour party has a long and proud history of coming up with ideas to “fix” the energy sector. The latest, an expansion of the manifesto commitment to create council-owned energy companies, was put forward by shadow energy secretary Alan Whitehead this week. Whitehead suggests local authorities could take control of the entire energy value chain, from generation via transmission to supply. How on earth would this work? We look forward to hearing Whitehead’s answers to the many questions his scheme poses in due course.