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Economics of Wind Power
Wales has excellent wind availability, but its proving hard to exploit

Wind Power in Wales

Wind Power in Wales Wind Power is a controversial issue in Wales, seen by some as an ideal clean and renewable source of energy and by others as a blot on the landscape and a deterrent to tourism. Wind Power benefits from subsidy for non-fossil fuels, a subsidy also enjoyed by nuclear power. Many environmentalists see the manner in which the subsidy is administered as a barrier to small-scale unobtrusive schemes and one which promotes instead large scale developments in optimal wind harnassing sites, which also are places where their visual impact is greatest. The turbines in the photograph are located at Penrhiw, near Bridgend.

Wales has excellent wind availability, but its proving hard to exploit

The prevailing direction of wind in the Northern Hemisphere is from West to East. This means that for much of the wind coming off the Atlantic Wales is the first encounter with land. This means that Wales has some of the best opportunities for Wind Energy development in Europe.

Yet elsewhere in Europe, where the wind must be captured after it has suffered the braking effects of mountain ranges, the development of wind power is far in advance of that in Wales.

"Britain is the windiest country in Europe with over 40% of the total resource sweeping over the country." The British Wind Energy Association

There has been no shortage of fine words from Government. The UK Government have set a target of generating 10% of the electricity supply from renewable sources by the year 2010.

A significant retarding factor in the development of wind energy has been opposition based on a single factor - the visual intrusion caused by wind turbines appearing on the landscape. Unfortunately sites which have the strongest winds - near the summits of hills and mountains - are also postions from which the turbines can be seen from the greatest distances.

Some organisations such as the Council for the Protection of Rural Wales have set up a concerted campaign, mounting running battles with windpower developers, opposing planning permission wherever projects are proposed.

Unfortunately these areguments exclude the many positive things that could arise from the development of wind energy. These include job creation, benefits to the local community from wind energy revenue, the availability of a local energy supply - and of course a source of energy which neither pollutes nor contributes to greenhouse gases.

What is never considered is the alternatives. Currently most of the installed new capacity is from gas-fired power stations. These have two major drawbacks. The first is that they produce carbond dioxide and contribute to the greenhouse effect. The second is that reserves of natural gas are very low. Gas is a flexible source of energy and to use it for base load electricity is very short-sighted. The gas which is used for generating electricity today will not be available for our central heating systems tomorrow.


Economics of Wind Power

With scarcity of fuel resources likely to push up costs of generating electricity from fossil fuels and concerns over the long term safety and environmental effects of nuclear power, the option of generating electricity from the wind is becoming increasingly attractive, where initial high capital costs are offset by the complete absence of fuel costs.

The following is a contribution from the European Wind Energy Association:

Generating electricity from the wind makes economic as well as environmental sense.

Wind energy is already competitive with coal or nuclear power across most of Europe, especially when the cost of pollution is taken into account. What is more, the cost of wind energy is falling, whilst other technologies will become more expensive.

The wind is a clean, renewable resource. It already makes a significant contribution to Europe's energy needs. The business of generating electricity from the wind - designing and making turbines, erecting and operating them - is growing fast and is se to expand further as Europe and the rest of the world looks for cleaner and more sustainable ways to generate electricity.

Further information: European Wind Energy Association: 0207 402 7122.

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This page was last updated on 27 March 2001 __________ Back to:net-cymru Home Page