UKIP energy spokesman Roger Helmer is pressing the government for some answers on the vexed question of wind power. The GWPF report authored by Gordon Hughes is providing some very useful ammunition by the looks of it.
You will recall that we have corresponded on the economics of wind power, and I drew your attention to the report from Professor Gordon Hughes of Edinburgh University, “Why is Wind Power so expensive?” You will recall that Prof Hughes concluded that wind power, with the necessary conventional back-up, saved little or no CO2 emissions, and that the capital cost of wind plus back-up was around ten times that of equivalent gas capacity.
From your reply, I formed the impression that the civil servants who are advising you had not really taken the trouble to understand Prof Hughes’ work — perhaps because it was so challenging in the face of current policy assumptions. Given the vast implications of Prof Hughes’ findings, I wonder if you could take a moment to see if we can find some common ground?