Nigel Adams MP has raised the profile of biomass technology as a viable option instead of onshore wind farms during Prime Minister’s Question Time.

There has been a renewed focus on alternative renewable sources, such as biomass, in place of unpopular and unreliable onshore wind farms.  A group of Conservative MPs are joining forces to lobby the Government to review its current funding of onshore wind arguing that the technology does more harm than good.

Currently, the Government, as part of its pledge to cut emissions in the Climate Change Act, is required to support a major expansion of wind farm development.  There are substantial subsidies available to developers of wind farms but Mr Adams points out that “one man’s subsidy is another man’s tax”.  Figures from 2010 showed that electricity customers pay an average of £90 a year to subsidise wind farms and other forms of renewable energy as part of a government scheme to meet carbon-reduction targets.

However, wind farms generate less than two per cent of the nation’s power and only produce energy around 30 per cent of the time, with other sources of electricity such as coal and gas being used alongside.  In 2010, the average UK wind farm only operated at 21% of its capacity.  Despite this, wind generators have to be subsidised to turn themselves off when there is a surplus of electricity whereas other technologies such as biomass can respond quickly to changes in demand on the electricity system.

In response to Mr Adams’ question, the Prime Minister said that the Government would target funding at “only the most cost-effective onshore wind farms” because it was “now one of the mature and cheaper technologies”.  The Government is proposing to reduce the subsidy for onshore wind by 10% to 0.9ROCs/MWh, in order to reflect long term cost movements, and to deter poorly sited projects which are more expensive to develop.  The Prime Minister also assured Mr Adams that he believed support should be increased “for an expansion in sustainable biomass generation, which is reliable and cost-effective.”

Following the debate, Nigel commented;

“I was pleased with the Prime Minister’s response but nothing is final until the Government officially publishes its response to the RO banding consultation.  However, it is positive to hear that the Government is starting to recognise other viable technologies and we will continue to push for less of a focus on onshore wind and more support for biomass and other, more reliable energy sources.”