I must admit I laughed out loud when reading a November 16 report by the BBC detailing the Rishi Sunak government’s latest award of massive new subsidies to the UK’s offshore wind developers.
“The price paid to generate electricity by offshore wind farms has been raised by 66% as the government tries to entice energy firms to invest,” the BBC report begins, adding, “It comes after an auction for offshore wind projects failed to attract any bids, with firms arguing the price set for electricity generated was too low. The government has lifted the price it pays from £44 per MWh to £73. It is hoped that more offshore wind capacity will lead to cheaper energy bills.”
So, the UK government and apparently the BBC want consumers to believe that a 66% increase in subsidies to wind developers to pay them to build more intermittent, unpredictable capacity with about a 25% efficiency factor in the offshore will somehow magically result in lower home utility bills. Given that the higher rates exceed the current average UK utility rate, and that those higher charges will inevitably work their way into utility invoices, how will that work, exactly? No one seems to want to explain.
Well, no one, that is, except for the companies themselves. BBC quotes unnamed corporate sources as claiming, “electricity produced out at sea would remain cheaper and less prone to shock increases compared with power derived from gas-fired power stations.” This is nonsense, of course, as evidenced by the fact that utility bills have only continued to rise apace along with the adding-in of offshore wind – and onshore wind, for that matter – to the grid’s generation mix. Yet, government officials and most media continue to parrot the propaganda without apparent curiosity.
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