Onshore wind farms cancelled as subsidies cut

About 250 planned onshore wind farms are likely to be cancelled because of an early end to subsidies, the government has said.

New onshore wind farms will be excluded from a subsidy scheme from 1 April 2016, a year earlier than expected.

Energy Secretary Amber Rudd said this was likely to mean 2,500 planned turbines would not be built.

She told MPs the change “draws the line in the right place” and said consumer bills would not rise as a result.

The funding for the subsidy comes from the Renewables Obligation, which is funded by levies added to household fuel bills.

Energy companies had been facing an end to this subsidy – as pledged in the Conservative Party election manifesto – in 2017.

In an oral statement following last week’s announcement, Ms Rudd said onshore wind was an “important” part of the mix, but that “we are reaching the limits of what is affordable and what the public is prepared to accept”.