A single offshore wind farm is set to cost £2.5 billion in subsidies over its 20 year life-span, shocking figures reveal. Newly constructed Rampion wind farm, off the Sussex coast, consists of 116 turbines. The project’s HQ was opened this week by hard-hat-toting Maria Caulfield MP. Guido wonders whether she is aware the project is a black hole for bill payer’s money…

According to analysis by the Global Warming Policy Forum, the project will qualify for about £126 million a year in public subsidies over two decades (under legacy arrangements made before the cancellation of the Renewables Obligation). Furthermore:

“The wholesale price of the electricity will only add about another £60 million a year, so roughly two thirds of the annual income of the project will be non-market public support.”

The return on the huge investments involved will mostly come from the public purse, not from selling electricity…

Moreover, an equivalent investment in gas-fired power plants could generate three times as much energy, subsidy-free. And they work all the time, on demand…