The persistent myth that green energy is expensive has been shredded by the revelation that windfarms will be built around Britain’s coast far cheaper than new nuclear reactors.
New power stations in the United Kingdom (UK) today are usually only built with the certainty provided by subsidies paid through energy bills, so the record low guaranteed price awarded to the developers of three new mega offshore windfarms today is, first and foremost, welcome news for consumers.
It is also good for the economy post-Brexit, for the foreign-owned developers behind the multibillion-pound projects, and the increasingly UK-based supply chain that supports them, such as Siemens’ 310 million British Pound wind turbine factory in Hull.
Of course, wind power is variable, unlike the steady power provided by nuclear, so there are costs to the energy system of integrating all those new turbines. Experts say those costs are relatively negligible, especially if coupled with flexible and smart technologies such as batteries, which the government is backing with hundreds of millions of pounds.
So large-scale renewable power built in the next decade will be inarguably much cheaper than nuclear. But it’s not just about cost – offshore windfarms can be built quicker, too. Their modular nature means they can be built in stages, and offshore wind generally has a good track record of being built on time in the UK. The projects that won subsidies this week should be operational by 2023.
The price awarded to offshore windfarms is also even lower than new gas power plants, but this week’s auction is unlikely to spell the death of gas, which can be built much more cheaply and quickly than nuclear.
But today could be, as the trade group RenewableUK puts it, a “game changer” for ministers in charge of setting energy policy. With a major government review of the cost of energy due out in October, there are calls for Theresa May to at the very least commit to further support for offshore wind and, more radically, to drop plans for new nuclear.
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Source: The Guardian, 11 September 2017