wind power

Wind power has cut £104bn from UK energy costs since 2010, study finds

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/28/wind-power-cut-uk-energy-costs-ucl-study

Surging renewable energy generation across Europe has lowered gas demand and prices, researchers say. Photograph: John Keeble/Getty Images

Reduction comes from energy generated from windfarms and lower cost of gas owing to lower demand

Wind power has cut at least £104bn from energy costs in the UK since 2010, a study has found.

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Surging renewable energy generation across Europe made demand for gas – and thus gas prices – lower than they would otherwise have been, and meant electricity companies had less need to build costly new gas-fired power stations, according to the analysis. The way that the UK’s energy market works also means gas-fired power stations are in effect allowed to set the price of electricity.

The analysis applied to 2010-23, leaving out the lingering impacts of the leap in gas prices in early 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Colm O’Shea, a former hedge fund manager, now a master’s student at UCL and lead author of the report, said: “Far from being a financial burden, this study demonstrates how wind generation has consistently delivered substantial financial benefits to the UK. To put it into context, this net benefit of £104bn is larger than the additional £90bn the UK has spent on gas since 2021 as a result of rising prices related to the war in Ukraine.

“This study demonstrates why we should reframe our understanding of green investment from costly environmental subsidy to a high-return national investment.”

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Ana Musat, the director of policy at RenewableUK, the trade body for the wind sector, said: “This research highlights the long-term economic benefits for UK plc of investing in renewable energy generation. The only way to reduce energy costs for good is to minimise our exposure to volatile global fossil fuel prices and increase the share of electricity generation from clean homegrown sources.”

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Original article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/28/wind-power-cut-uk-energy-costs-ucl-study dizzy: The article addresses many different issues about wind generation.

Continue ReadingWind power has cut £104bn from UK energy costs since 2010, study finds

Green Party criticises Labour’s Great British Energy and climate proposals

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Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.
Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.

Reacting to Labour’s announcement on Great British Energy, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: 

“We need real change if we are to meet the demands of the climate crisis. These Labour plans do not deliver it. 

“Compared to Labour’s original commitment to spend £28bn a year on green investment, this announcement of just £8.3bn over the course of the parliament looks tiny and is nowhere near enough to deliver Labour’s promise of ‘clean electricity.’  

“Labour’s targets focus on the electricity supply. However, to achieve net zero we need to see the electrification of home heating. This aim was ditched when Labour cancelled its £28 billion investment pledge.  

“Domestic energy security is vital, but that must begin with energy efficiency. That means providing the national programme of home insulation delivered by local authorities that will ensure warm homes and cut bills. This was another victim of Labour’s ditching of its original £28 billion investment pledge.  

“We want to see community owned assets and schemes that genuinely benefit people, not the private companies seeking to use public funds channeled through Great British Energy to continue profiteering while the planet burns and people’s bills remain too high. 

“Where is the support for local area heat networks which would make a real change and offer great long-term investments ideal for community ownership? 

“Labour has spent too long listening to the pleadings of energy companies for public investment in unproven technological solutions like carbon capture that simply won’t deliver the immediate real change we need. 

“The Green Party is committed to democratically controlled community ownership for a greater share of the energy market and a faster transition to Net Zero over the next ten years. 

“We would invest the money so that communities could take ownership and see less income in the hands of companies that have made excessive profits from fossil fuels or run our water companies into the ground.” 

Ed Miliband and the Labour party full of shit on climate

Continue ReadingGreen Party criticises Labour’s Great British Energy and climate proposals

Scotland leads on wind power

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Scotland is hugely expanding it’s wind generated power. Well done Scotland.

Huge ScotWind renewables sale ‘could bring oil-style’ boom to Scotland

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17 projects with a combined 25gw potential have been approved in a £700 million sale.

Greta Thunberg, Nicola Sturgeon and Vanessa Nakate at Cop26

The Scottish Government expects to secure at least £1 billion of investment in the Scottish supply chain for every gigawatt of power. Sturgeon says the workforce is “superbly placed with transferable skills to capitalise on the transition to new energy sources” and “people working right now in the oil and gas sector in the North East of Scotland can be confident of opportunities for their future”.

She went on: “While it is not yet possible to say with certainty what the scale of development will ultimately be, there is no doubt that the scale of this opportunity is transformational – both for our environment and the economy.”

Funds raised will be channelled to the Scottish Government and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the “scale of opportunity here is truly historic”.

She said: “ScotWind puts Scotland at the forefront of the global development of offshore wind, represents a massive step forward in our transition to net zero, and will help deliver the supply chain investments and high quality jobs that will make the climate transition a fair one.”

The Scottish Government expects to secure at least £1 billion of investment in the Scottish supply chain for every gigawatt of power. Sturgeon says the workforce is “superbly placed with transferable skills to capitalise on the transition to new energy sources” and “people working right now in the oil and gas sector in the North East of Scotland can be confident of opportunities for their future”.

She went on: “While it is not yet possible to say with certainty what the scale of development will ultimately be, there is no doubt that the scale of this opportunity is transformational – both for our environment and the economy.”

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Continue ReadingScotland leads on wind power