There is widespread support for new onshore wind in the UK. Whether the basis of that support is taking action on climate change, helping to keep consumer bills low or boosting the competitiveness of industry, the potential contribution of onshore wind to delivering a net zero economy is widely recognised by UK business, environment and civil society groups. Here we set out just some of those organisations and the reasons they support new onshore wind in the UK.
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Ben Fletcher, Executive Director of Communication, Make UK
British manufacturers face some of Europe’s highest power prices. Bringing back support for onshore wind would help reduce overall energy prices and thereby improve manufacturers’ competitiveness.
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Tanisha Beebee, Senior Policy Advisor, Energy and Climate Change, The CBI
The CBI is eager to see the development and progression of renewable energy technologies, with associated economic, environmental and industrial benefits across the UK, and this begins with further harnessing the UK’s potential for the cheapest new-build energy technology – onshore wind.
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The Federation of Small Businesses
In the UK, onshore wind generates more electricity than any other renewable source. As we journey towards a low carbon economy, FSB wants to see the UK lead the world in renewable technologies like onshore wind, nurturing the UK skills base and ensuring that our small firms are empowered to supply their products, services and expertise to these industries.
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Phil Graham, Chief Executive, National Infrastructure Commission
Meeting our Net Zero target means creating a highly renewable and flexible energy system for the UK, so we must prioritise the renewable technologies that can do that: onshore wind, plus offshore and solar generation. A diverse mix of renewable technologies can play a central role in ensuring our future energy network can meet growing demand and cope with the challenges of intermittent generation and extreme weather. It’s important therefore that onshore wind generation should benefit from a route to market through contracts for difference, as offshore generation already does.
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Nick Molho, Executive Director, Aldersgate Group
As demonstrated in research by UCL, a renewed roll-out of onshore wind will help complete the cost-effective decarbonisation of the power sector and is essential to deliver competitive electricity prices for industrial users.
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Dr Jonathan Scurlock, Chief Advisor, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, National Farmers Union
The NFU is frustrated by the current barriers and lack of incentives for onshore wind power – this impacts upon farmers and growers wishing to diversify their businesses with on-site power generation, the income from which helps to make farm enterprises more profitable and resilient in a volatile world. Alongside solar and bioenergy, wind power is a widely-available land-based renewable energy resource that we expect to make a significant contribution towards our aspiration of net zero agriculture by 2040.
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Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Analysis conducted for the RSPB’s Energy Vision suggests that onshore wind with an annual output of up to 140TWh could be developed with low ecological risk. We support the increased use of onshore wind in appropriate sites as part of the wider UK renewables strategy needed to tackle the climate emergency and to deliver net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. It’s vital that the UK government responds positively to the Committee on Climate Change’s recent call for a “route to market” for onshore wind, so that current low levels of deployment can be reversed.
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Sue Ferns, Deputy General Secretary, Prospect Union
Decarbonising our economy while increasing generating capacity and keeping bills low is a huge challenge that will require a mix of technologies to achieve. It is obvious that onshore wind has to be a key part of that mix. A rapid expansion of onshore wind deployment also has the potential to create thousands of good green jobs across the UK, and help secure a Just Transition for workers as high carbon generation is phased out.
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10:10
Clean onshore wind power is popular in every single constituency in the UK, is our cheapest energy source bar none, and is a solution to the pressing climate crisis. Local communities can lead, own and benefit from new projects - but only if the de facto ban is lifted and onshore wind is granted fair treatment alongside other energy sources.
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Emma Bridge, Chief Executive, Community Energy England
The UK has one of the best wind resources in Europe and onshore wind is now the cheapest low-carbon energy we can produce. Polling has shown support for wind turbines has been consistently high, no matter what some loud voices may say. 79% of people are in favour of onshore wind and this can be even higher when communities have a stake in and a level of ownership of developments in their area. As well as contributing to the fight against climate change, new onshore wind developments can benefit local communities by increasing their resilience through much-needed investment and revenue. In a climate emergency, removing the barriers to this vital technology is not only vital, but also popular, cost-effective and locally beneficial.
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National Federation of Women's Institutes
WI members are clear that we need further and faster action to protect our environment and safeguard our planet for the future. In order for the government to meet its commitment net-zero by 2050 we need to see concrete action and investment in the cheapest new source of energy, onshore wind.
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