This graphic of the month shows the impact of the government’s effective banning of onshore wind development in England through the planning regime – just three onshore wind farms (over 1 MW) were completed in 2019.
Two of these projects benefited from legacy subsidy support. The Accolade Wines site in Bristol was pre-accredited for the Feed-in-Tariff, which closed in March 2019 to new applications. The Common Barn wind farm is one of the last of the Contracts for Difference round 1 projects to be completed. Since this round in 2015, no Contracts for Difference have been awarded to onshore wind sites, other than the remote island development sites in the North of Scotland. Only the Withernick wind farm extension was completed without a subsidy.
As we put in place the policies for achieving net zero emissions, ending the effective ban on one of the cheapest forms of low carbon electricity generation in England would be a significant positive step.
We have covered the latest Contracts for Difference results for offshore wind in a previous graphic of the month.
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Author:
Frankie Mayo