Many of the new green power stations that were expected to spring up over the next decade will no longer be built, after subsidies for onshore wind and solar energy were slashed, campaigners have warned.
In a development that will make it even harder for Britain to meet its ambitious climate change targets, numerous projects, from large onshore windfarms to small household solar installations, are no longer expected to go ahead.
A series of renewable energy projects planned by major power industry players such as the Big Six providers EDF and Germany’s RWE Group, owner of nPower, have recently been scrapped and many others will fail to get off the ground in the first place, campaigners said.
The cancellation of so many renewable projects is particularly embarrassing as it comes days before the start of next week’s UN Climate Conference in Paris. David Cameron is among the 138 world leaders expected to attend the opening day of the conference, but his Government is facing increasing criticism for backing away from the green agenda. In Wednesday’s Spending Review, the Chancellor scrapped a £1bn pilot project to cut carbon emissions.