Today (18 June 2015), Amber Rudd, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change announced that the government was bringing forwards a Tory manifesto pledge to controversially end the subsidy for onshore wind development a year early (to April 2016). The announcement has been (and continues to be) challenged by industry and Scottish government.
This is undoubtedly bad timing for an industry on the cusp of standing on it’s own feet – but it’s also not the killing off of a massive employment and investment component of the economy. The industry will carry on becoming leaner and deliver efficiencies across planning, construction and operation. Linknode will continue to deliver digital capabilities to provide rapid, proportionate and accessible solutions to help facilitate development, planning and community engagement.
This week I was reading the “Subsidies and costs of EU Energy” Final Report, published in November 2014. For those who think TL;DR the chart below comes from the final page:
Despite bad reporting from much of the popular press in the UK, it is clear that subsidies across all energy generation – including fossil fuels and nuclear – make up the energy bill mix. Add to this the recent call from G7 countries to phase out fossil fuels entirely, worldwide by the end of the century and we need a programme of mid-term goals for the next generation that will require public and private investment.
So, today we are where we are.
Tomorrow, onshore wind will further innovate and move forwards – Linknode are an enabling partner in the industry and continue to facilitate economic digital data services and cost effective scoping planning and development tools with VentusAR.
Does Amber Rudd mean Bad Murder? Only in an anagram generator.