Mr Christopher Chope, Conservative MP for Christchurch, who recently referred to offshore wind players as “ subsidy junkies “, has taken another step in an effort to restrict large-scale offshore wind development off the coasts of the UK by proposing a bill called “Control of Offshore Wind Turbines”.
Mr Chope yesterday proposed a private member’s bill at the House of Commons, which would curb subsidies for offshore wind energy that the Government introduced in 2013.
Furthermore, the bill would limit the number of turbines installed at sea, their location in respect to the coast and their height, suggesting that an offshore wind turbine should not be heigher than 100 metres.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Michael Fallon, replied to Mr Chope by saying that his bill runs counter Government’s policy of supporting renewable energy technologies to increase the part that renewable energy plays in the UK energy mix. “It would also, therefore, run counter to our policy that follows from that, which is that we should offer to offshore wind projects the same type, if not the same price, of strike prices that are on offer to other technologies,” Minister Fallon added.
He concluded by saying that it would not be right for the Government to restrict the deployment of offshore wind in the way in which Mr Chope proposes.
The debate on this bill will be continued next week.
Offshore WIND Staff; Image: wikimedia