UK Needs More Onshore Wind

I spent most of my July visiting several onshore wind farms in the UK with my colleague Natalia Jablonska , escaping never ending rain in Manchester. I had been wanting to share my frustrations on our current government's position on onshore wind. Fuelled by tabloid poison, we are suffocating our best bet for clean energy.

There is a de facto ban on onshore wind in England.

Last December, PM Rishi Sunak appeared to have listened to reason. Several MPs, former Prime Ministers, the Leaders of the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party requested a change in Government position on Onshore Wind developments. As far as renewables go, Onshore Wind is one of the cheapest and most rapidly deployable forms of renewable electricity. There was hope!

August 2023, and "the ban" still exists. England granted planning permission for just 15 new turbines since 2017, with just 2 in 2022. We were at the forefront in the world on wind power; now we barely show.

UK Wind - What has it achieved?

In November 2022, more than 20GW of electricity was produced by wind for the first time, representing over 70% of electricity generated on that day. Since then, this record has continued to be broken.

ONS data suggests that in 2020, the UK generated 75,610 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity from both offshore and onshore wind. This would be enough to power?8.4 trillion LED light bulbs. ONS states that wind energy generation accounted for 24% of total electricity generation (including renewables and non-renewables) in 2020; with offshore wind accounting for 13% and onshore wind accounting for 11%.

Individually, both offshore and onshore wind electricity generation grew substantially since 2009 but stagnated in 2016, a situation which is worsening every year since then.

The Deal Breakers for England

Our National Planning Policy Framework has made it near prohibitive for onshore wind to grow in England. Two consultations released by government this year have made no difference. In fact, it has made it even worse.

Just one objection to an onshore wind farm can stop an entire project being built.

Paragraph 158 of?the National Planning Policy Framework?refers to planning applications for renewable energy and low-carbon development, and requires local authorities to accept such applications barring major reasons not to.

But this is subject to footnote 54, which reads: “Except for applications for the repowering of existing wind turbines, a proposed wind energy development involving one or more turbines should not be considered acceptable unless it is in an area identified as suitable for wind energy development in the development plan; and, following consultation, it can be demonstrated that the planning impacts identified by the affected local community have been fully addressed and the proposal has their backing.”

Scotland saw 46 new turbines in last six months or so, with another nearly 600MW capacity to come online this year. That's power for half a million homes a year!

As James Robottom notes in his article on RenewableUK blog, the proposed amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework will not enable the deployment of onshore wind in England. On the contrary, they will severely hinder investment in the onshore wind industry and its supply chain due to the high level of risk and uncertainty they create.

The government says they are consulting the public on onshore wind, but it feels like the consultation document has been made deliberately difficult to engage with and wilfully obscure. Instead of simply asking the public if they want the ban lifted so we can have more onshore wind in England, they ask them to comment on some feeble word changes in a couple of revised footnotes. It’s just pathetic!

Scotland is doing well. The onshore wind policy statement in Scotland showcases Scottish commitment. England must change the status quo or we will end up importing more & more of our power. Energy poverty will expand exponentially rather than shrink.

A footnote in planning law is killing onshore wind in England. The ban is absurd, dishonest, and corrupt.

We will not see Net Zero become a reality if greenwashing is all we do. We are on track for importing thousands of tonnes of Lithium batteries, millions of barrels of oil, millions cubic feets of gas.