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The Beatrice Offshore Windfarm has become the fourth windfarm to have received more than £1 billion in subsidy payments. The landmark was reached in just its seventh year of operation, suggesting that it could reach £2 billion over the course of its subsidy agreement. Beatrice, situated in the Moray Firth, cost £2.2 billion to construct. Thus consumer levies will pay for almost the entire cost of the windfarm. The profits are ultimately shared by SSE plc and the Danish investment house, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Net Zero Watch has condemned the waste. Its director Andrew Montford said: “This level of subsidy is obscene. The Westminster machine is hosing down the green lobby with our money. The consumer interest is nowhere to be seen.”
Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform UK said: “Renewable energy subsidies are making people poorer with higher bills. Businesses are less competitive, meaning less growth and fewer jobs. Reform would put a windfall tax on all renewables to the value of the subsidies. We need to copy the US plan and ‘drill baby drill’ to make people better off.”
Notes for editors1. The other windfarms that have received more than a billion pounds in subsidy are: Walney Extension £1.7bn Hornsea One £1.6 bn Dudgeon £1.2 bn
2. The CfD scheme as a whole has paid out a net £9.2 billion since 2016. Payments are now running at around £200 million per month. 3. The subsidy figure is revealed in data released by the Low Carbon Contracts Company.
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