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Boris Johnson is set to give the go-ahead to onshore wind farms four years after his predecessor, David Cameron, imposed a moratorium on subsidies for land-based wind turbines.
Mr Johnson’s move — which could be announced as early as Monday afternoon — comes as the price of electricity produced by wind farms has dropped sharply in recent years, making the technology significantly cheaper than other forms of low-carbon electricity such as nuclear power.
The government is under pressure to put in place a strategy to hit its target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It is likely to grow in the run-up to the global climate change talks taking place in Glasgow in November, called “COP26”.
In a plan set out to climate groups at a meeting in Downing Street on Monday, the authorities will announce that onshore projects will now be allowed to compete for government subsidies alongside other renewable energy technologies, such as offshore wind — although ministers have yet to finalise the announcement.
Onshore wind farms have long been unpopular with grassroots Conservatives in rural areas because of their visual effect on the landscape as well as their impact on birdlife.
Mr Cameron in effect killed off the construction of new onshore wind farms in the wake of the 2015 general election when he said he wanted to “rid” the countryside of the “unsightly” structures after pressure from many of his own MPs.
In 2016 he excluded onshore wind from the government’s system of subsidies for low-carbon electricity. The moratorium led to new onshore wind capacity falling to its lowest level in a decade in 2019.
However, Alok Sharma, business secretary, is expected to say that cutting carbon emissions rapidly will mean “making the most of every technology available” including onshore wind and solar. He will pledge that the government will do this in a way that does not alienate local communities.
Under the new plan, projects will be eligible to apply for a new “contracts for difference (CFDs)” auction in 2021, which means wind farms could be up and running by the mid-2020s. Campaigners cautioned that because of planning restrictions, most of the new projects were likely to be built in Scotland rather than England.
Scottish Power, for example, has drawn up a list of potential wind farm projects north of the border in anticipation that the government could loosen its resistance to onshore schemes.
The government’s system of CFDs provides a fixed price for electricity to low-carbon projects. Last autumn some offshore wind projects agreed to prices as low as £39.65 per MwH, reflecting the increased efficiencies in the industry, such as higher turbines with longer blades.
By contrast EDF’s proposed nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset agreed a £97.50/MwH strike price with the government in 2016.
Onshore wind has traditionally been cheaper than offshore wind, reflecting the complex challenges involved in building huge wind turbines far off the coast, often in deep waters — although the gap has been closing in recent years.
John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, said onshore wind and solar were some of the cheapest available sources of energy.
“The government now needs to engage with local communities in order to get large amounts of onshore wind and solar off the ground,” he said. “Leading by example, by tripling the UK’s wind and solar by 2030, is a prerequisite for successful UK leadership at this year’s global climate talks in Glasgow.”
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