Tories blow cold on onshore wind

A ban on onshore wind farms is set to feature in the Conservative Party Manifesto for next year’s General Election.

The Tories are planning a moratorium on future onshore wind farms from 2020 on the grounds that they have now become “self-defeating”, claim insiders.

Instead, the party will argue subsides should be directed towards more offshore wind farms and greater use of solar power.

The move comes after a Sunday Post investigation, which called for a re-think on onshore wind farms, revealed turbine operators in Scotland have banked £1.8 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies since 2007.

The Tories’ previous attempts to curb onshore wind farms whilst in Government have been thwarted by their Lib Dem coalition partners but the manifesto move is seen as a way of tapping into growing anger about the turbines in the party’s electoral heartlands.

Even though planning decisions north of the Border are devolved to Holyrood, any Westminster clampdown on wind farm subsidies would hammer Scotland.

A Department for Energy and Climate Change report out next week will highlight Scotland gets 28% (£560 million) of UK Government renewable subsides but accounts for 10% of electricity sales.

A senior Tory party source was reported as saying energy policy measures in the manifesto will, in effect, rule out the building of onshore wind farms from 2020.

They said: “We are not going to allow the Lib Dems to characterise us as anti-clean energy just because we want to control the number of onshore wind farms.

“We are mindful that uncontrolled expansion of onshore wind is alienating people from the whole clean energy debate.”

Any move by a UK Government to clamp down on wind farms would put it on a collision course with the Scottish Government, which remains a firm supporter of the renewable technology and is charge of planning decisions north of the Border.

The SNP points to warnings from regulator OFGEM that the gap between energy supply and demand across the UK could be as low as 2% by 2015/16, raising the prospect of winter blackouts.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “There is strong public support for the development of wind power, but it is important that we have the right developments in the right places.”