Tory MPs rebel over subsidies for wind farms
NEW Liberal Democrat energy secretary Ed Davey is already under political pressure, after more than 100 Tory MPs called on the government to slash subsidies to wind farms.
The 101 Conservative signatories wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron to demand a re-think of the coalition’s energy policy.
“In these financially straitened times, we think it is unwise to make consumers pay, through taxpayer subsidy, for inefficient and intermittent energy production that typifies onshore wind turbines,” said the letter, printed in the Sunday Telegraph.
The dispute mirrors current situations in other countries, where state subsidies for some renewable source energy suppliers are being called into question.
Many projects in the US have fallen into limbo as firms await the outcome of talks in Congress over whether or not to continue with subsidies and tax credits, including for wind farms.
And in economically-troubled Spain, new Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has temporarily suspended payments to new renewable energy plants, as part of his ongoing attempts to control the state’s large annual budget deficit.