www.windaction.org facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impacts Windaction http://www.windaction.org/articles/c120+52?theme=atom Xarayar 2006-06-12T02:16:27Z

[ Zoning/Planning ]

Energy bills 'could overtake mortgages in five years' .38409 2013-05-19T13:31:22Z 2013-05-19T13:31:22Z Energy bills are rising so steeply that they could overtake mortgage repayments in parts of Britain in just five years' time, the chief executive of supplier, First Utility, has claimed. utility bill. Analysis by First Utility shows that UK dual-fuel bills have risen by an average of 8.5pc a year over the last five years to reach current levels of £1,420. £1m for wind farms to shut turbines for one day .38280 2013-05-05T12:55:35Z 2013-05-05T12:55:35Z Power companies operating wind farms in Scotland were paid more than £1 million to shut down their turbines for a single day last month, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. ...The so-called "constraint payments" are paid by the National Grid to energy companies when energy supply outstrips demand - turbines are switched off so they stop producing electricity to rebalance the system. The £9million bonus bonanza dished out to green energy bureaucrats .37911 2013-03-30T17:40:09Z 2013-03-30T17:40:09Z Bureaucrats in charge of the Government's controversial green policies have benefited from a multi-million-pound bonus bonanza since the last election. The total amount of performance-related handouts given to civil servants at the Department for Energy and Climate Change has almost tripled since Labour's final year in office to £9million. A third more Scottish wind turbines built in one year .37900 2013-03-29T03:19:09Z 2013-03-29T03:19:09Z The true pace at which wind farms are spreading across Scotland's countryside has been disclosed after official figures indicated the number of turbines increased by a third in the last year alone. ...Struan Stevenson, a Scottish Tory MEP, said the DECC figures were "perfectly symbolic of how pathetically useless and inefficient the whole technology of wind is." Vestas, Areva tell U.K. ministers job growth threatened by delay .37687 2013-03-11T17:26:50Z 2013-03-11T17:26:50Z Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS), Areva SA (AREVA) and four other power-generation manufacturers wrote to ministers saying the U.K. risks falling behind European peers and choking job creation by stalling a decision on setting a carbon target. Europe's offshore wind facing 50 bln euro shortfall -study .37567 2013-03-01T13:49:14Z 2013-03-01T13:49:14Z Europe's plans for offshore wind power up to 2020 could be as much as 50 billion euros ($65.55 billion) short of funding, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said in a study released on Thursday. Fuel bills will keep soaring warns energy watchdog: Green targets could trigger 1970s-style power blackouts .37443 2013-02-20T16:51:00Z 2013-02-20T16:51:00Z Fuel bills will soar as green targets leave Britain reliant on expensive imported gas, the energy regulator warned yesterday. Alistair Buchanan, chief executive of Ofgem, also raised the spectre of 1970s-style blackouts because 10 per cent of coal and oil-fired power production is being shut down next month. Britain 'on the brink' of energy crisis, warns regulator .37441 2013-02-20T15:00:48Z 2013-02-20T15:00:48Z Households must prepare for a sharp rise in energy bills within two years as Britain comes "dangerously" close to power shortages, the chief executive of Ofgem has warned. Scotland's green energy target 'would be threatened by independence vote' .37347 2013-02-11T20:33:40Z 2013-02-11T20:33:40Z "This is because, in practice, funding a significant expansion of Scottish-based off-shore renewables under independence would lead to considerable increases in Scottish electricity prices, something that a Scottish government would find hard to sustain politically." Too much cash for wind farms: study .37258 2013-02-04T13:34:08Z 2013-02-04T13:34:08Z In the report, released on Monday, the authors say wind energy "will never be suited as the lone or primary source of grid electricity due to its variable nature and will not deliver the environmental benefits expected". UK and Ireland strike deal for green energy .37145 2013-01-25T18:24:01Z 2013-01-25T18:24:01Z Ireland's Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte, and the UK's energy secretary Edward Davey signed a memorandum of understanding to move forward plans to allow Irish wind farms to export electricity to Britain. "Shocking" wind farm contracts set up by the Government could put £300 on electricity bills .37080 2013-01-14T04:53:02Z 2013-01-14T04:53:02Z Furious MPs say the agreements mean these licensees will pull in an estimated £17billion - all of which will "ultimately be funded by customers". The committee's chairman, Labour MP Margaret Hodge, said: "The terms of these transmission licences appear to have been designed almost entirely to attract investors at the expense of securing a good deal for consumers." 'Substantial' rise in wind farm bills for independent Scotland .36733 2012-12-12T15:56:27Z 2012-12-12T15:56:27Z Ed Davey told a conference in Edinburgh the cost of Scottish renewable energy subsidies and infrastructure is currently spread across 26 million homes across the UK. But he warned that after separation this would be borne entirely by households north of the Border and "basic arithmetic" dictated that the average bill would have to increase markedly. The government's energy policy is killing pensioners .36637 2012-12-01T01:44:22Z 2012-12-01T01:44:22Z The Government's green energy policy has been blamed for pushing up energy bills and covering the country with ugly wind turbines. But government statistics released quietly on Thursday, when the world's eyes were on the Leveson report, suggest that it is doing something far worse too: killing the elderly. New green energy dispute .36610 2012-11-24T22:33:12Z 2012-11-24T22:33:12Z The Mountaineering Council of Scotland expressed its disappointment. David Gibson said: "This report is a missed opportunity for Scotland to protect our fabulous open landscapes and paves the way for huge power companies to smother yet more of our mountainsides with turbines. A truce over wind farms...but how long will it last? .36596 2012-11-23T18:02:19Z 2012-11-23T18:02:19Z The peace deal, allowing £7.6 billion to be put on bills over the next eight years, follows a bitter split between Chancellor George Osborne and Ed Davey, the Energy Secretary, that threatened to tear the Coalition apart over the its green agenda. At the heart of the fight, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have been increasingly worried about the rising cost of energy to consumers. Energy Bill to increase prices to fund cleaner fuel .36589 2012-11-23T13:14:09Z 2012-11-23T13:14:09Z The government has published details of its long-awaited Energy Bill, designed to keep lights on and emissions down. It will allow energy companies to charge households an extra £7.6bn until 2020, to go towards low-carbon electricity infrastructure. A decision about setting carbon emission targets for 2030 has been delayed until 2016, after the election. Labour said this was a "humiliating failure" for the Lib Dems. Davey defends contentious energy agreement .36588 2012-11-23T13:09:55Z 2012-11-23T13:09:55Z Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat energy secretary, defended his green energy deal on Friday, after coming under fire for dropping a carbon emissions target and adding to consumers' rising energy bills. After months of infighting, Mr Davey finally compromised with his Conservative coalition partners, agreeing a deal that will pave the way for an energy bill next week. Wind farms to increase energy bills by £178 a year .36587 2012-11-22T23:04:26Z 2012-11-22T23:04:26Z Households and businesses will have to pay £7.6billion a year towards the cost of building "greener" power stations by 2020. This is three times the current level of £2.35 billion per year, as bill-payers are forced to remunerate companies for several new nuclear plants, thousands of wind turbines and potentially "green" fossil fuel stations.