Thinktank Civitas blasted over "flawed" wind power report

The Civitas report, authored by economist Ruth Lea, claims wind power is unreliable and requires back-up power stations to be available in order to maintain a consistent electricity supply to households and businesses.

"This means that energy users pay twice," it argues. "Once for the window-dressing of renewables, and again for the fossil fuels that the energy sector continues to rely on. Contrary to the implied message of the Government's approach, the analysis shows that wind power is not a low-cost way of reducing emissions."

But the report and its author have come under fire for using subjective, non-qualified research and inaccurate assumptions to wildly inflate the cost of wind energy.

Lea claims to have used Government-commissioned estimates of the costs of electricity generation in the UK to calculate the most cost-effective technologies. She concludes that when all costs are included, gas-fired power is the most cost-efficient method of generating electricity in the short-term, while nuclear power stations become the most cost-efficient in the medium-term.

Her report adds: "Wind power is acknowledged to cost more than traditional fossil fuel power stations. But estimates from Government-commissioned reports suggest that, when the cost of CO2 emissions is included, onshore wind power becomes one of the more cost-effective means of generating electricity. Offshore wind does not however.

"Unfortunately, these estimates fail to factor in all the costs of wind power. These costs are due to the fact that energy output from wind is unpredictable and rarely occurs in areas of most demand:.. wind-power is unreliable and requires conventional back-up generating capacity when wind speeds are, for example, very low or rapidly varying.

"This means that wind farms need to be supported by conventional capacity including gas-fired power stations that can be switched on whenever the available wind fails to match demand for electricity."

But RenewableUK, the trade association for the wind, wave and tidal industry, has today criticised the report for failing to understand how wind power works as part of the UK’s electricity generation system.

The association points out Lea's report is based on research by Colin Gibson, a former director of National Grid, who recently spoke at an anti-wind conference in Scotland.

Gibson’s research was based on a range of assumptions, particularly the need to build a new fleet of rapid-response gas power stations (known as open-cycle gas turbines, or OCGT) to back up wind generation on a megawatt for megawatt basis. These assumptions significantly inflate the cost of energy from wind.

Dr Gordon Edge, RenewableUK’s director of Policy, said: "Mr Gibson’s assumptions, upon which Ms Lea relies, are outliers to the mainstream of analysis in this area, to put it mildly. Dedicated OCGT plants are not required to provide back-up for wind.

"Instead, wind can be integrated into our existing electricity system to act as a fuel saver, enabling us to harness the weather when it’s available. Some additional investment is required, but credible analysis puts the cost at one-sixth of Mr Gibson’s inflated claims even with wind providing two-thirds of our power."

RenewableUK confirmed Lea’s report makes extensive use of non-peer-reviewed research from a range of anti-wind organisations.

"It is surprising that a thinktank such as Civitas has published a report based on the work of anti-wind cranks, repeating the same discredited assertions," Edge added.

"The UK’s energy policy over the next 10 years will play a critical part in our economic success – offshore wind in particular has the potential to revitalise our manufacturing sector, with the promise of over 70,000 jobs.

"This report, based on outdated and inaccurate information, does nothing to advance the debate."

The Civitas report concludes: "[Wind-power] is expensive and yet it is not effective in cutting CO2 emissions. If it were not for the renewables targets set by the Renewables Directive, wind power would not even be entertained as a cost-effective way of generating electricity or cutting emissions."