To Archive List PageBritain's Coalition government, like New Labour, is stuffed with uninformed idiots who have bought the Great Global Warming Swindle. There are also cynics, who see pretending to prevent Global Warming as an excuse for carrying on Gordon Brown's Great Stealth Tax Swindle. So it's no wonder that when someone takes a close look at the economics of subsidized wind farms, the deal for the taxpayer looks like just another rip-off.

Things any Government ought to know about Wind Farms
—if it had any sense, which few governments do.

windmills

1. Don't build them where the wind don't blow!

blue handIn 2009, Britain had 264 wind farms containing a total of 2,906 wind turbines. The subsidies paid to wind-farm operators mean that the farms can be profitable even if they are sited for convenience rather energy production.

green handOver half of Britain's wind farms are operating at less than one-quarter of their capacity, 70% of the on-shore wind farms in England fail to reach 25% capacity, and the average efficiency for all wind farms in England is just 21%.

red handThere were 235 offshore wind farms operating in 2009 – 129 of them ran at less than one-quarter efficiency.

blue handThe wind farm at Whitelee, near Glasgow, has 140 turbines and it is Europe's biggest. But the turbines averaged less than one-quarter capacity in 2009.

green handA 10-turbine wind farm at Burton Wold, Northamptonshire, has been operating for 3 years and it managed a capacity of only 19%

red handThe 9 wind turbines at Blythe Harbour, Northumberland were the lowest of the low, reaching a capacity of a massive 4.9% in 2009 — only slightly worse than the wind farm at Chelker reservoir, North Yorkshire, which managed a capacity of 5.2%

blue handA single wind turbine running at 30% capacity or more over a period of one year qualifies for a subsidy from the taxpayer of £283,000. Only 8 of Britain's 104 on-shore wind farms managed to operate at this capacity.

green handSome one billion pounds per year – that's £1,000,000,000is added to British fuel bills to subsidize "renewable" energy sources, including windmills.

red handThe present coalition government is carrying on with Labour's plan to erect a further 7,000 wind turbines but it has no plans to ensure that the turbines are installed at places where the wind blows consistently throughout the year, and no plans to eliminate subsidies for wind turbines which operate at less than 25% efficiency.

blue handA good way to upset those cashing in on the renewable energy scam is to compare the output of windmills with that from fossil-fuel and nuclear power stations, which provide always-on power on demand, and which are not subject to shut-down when the wind doesn't blow.

 To Page TopWhat are we supposed to do
when the wind stops blowing?
Shiver in the Dark?		To Archive List Page