Important policy updates for wind power - September 2023
There was a lot of wind in the news at the start of September and we’ll be straight with you. It was a mixed bag.
Wind is one of the cleanest, cheapest energy sources we have, and it’s a vital part of tackling the climate crisis. But the government is still failing to get us off dirty, expensive gas power and onto renewables
So, what happened? Here’s a quick round up.
Bad news for offshore wind
Once a year, the government invites companies to bid for contracts to deliver new low-carbon energy projects. The big day was during the first week of September, but it resulted in the shocking news that they failed to attract a single bid for new offshore wind.
This happened because the government failed to update power prices to reflect global inflation (which was caused by soaring gas prices), and it will leave people across the UK paying more for dirtier energy.
In the future, the government needs to set prices at the right level, and we’ll be calling on them to do that.
A small win on onshore wind
As you know, new wind farms have effectively been banned in England since 2015, given that a single objection can derail a whole project.
Last week, Rishi Sunak slightly eased the planning rules on onshore wind. This was because MPs from across political parties told the government to unblock new projects, ahead of a pivotal vote on the Energy Bill.
This happened for a reason - it’s obvious that we need more wind, and people like you who called on their MPs to take action for wind played a huge part in this.
We’ve been calling for a full lifting of the ban, to bring onshore wind in line with planning rules for all other forms of infrastructure. That’s not what we got, but we did get something: an acknowledgment from the government that the current ban wasn’t working, and a weakening of the restrictions on new projects.
It’s a small win, but we’re going in the right direction - thank you for all you did to make this happen.
So, what happens now?
In short, we’ll keep on campaigning for clean, cheap wind power.
It’s not clear yet whether new wind projects will be able to come forwards as a result of Sunak’s announcement, but we’ll keep doing all we can to support wind power, because our climate - and our energy bills - need it.
And we won’t put up with policy which supports dangerous new drilling for oil and gas, while placing restrictions on renewables which just don’t make sense. We’ll keep campaigning for clean cheap energy, and keep calling out powerful people who stand in the way of this and try to keep us locked into dirty energy (as Ali did with Jacob Rees Mogg on the news).
Thank you for all that you’ve done for wind power. We’re going in the right direction, and I’ll hope you’ll stay with us.
Like what we’re doing? We couldn’t keep up our work for climate solutions like onshore wind without you. If you’re able to do so, please chip in to keep the winds of change blowing.
