Time to fill the fields with wind turbines

What a week it has been for Rishi Sunak. A Prime Minister who pledged to lead us out of the economic crisis has performed so many about-turns that he might be too dizzy to find his way out of No10.

First a critical vote on planning reform was pulled at the last minute, in an attempt to quell growing unease among more than 50 “blue wall” Conservative MPS terrified at the prospect of losing seats to the Liberal Democrats. Then, just 24 hours later, it emerged that Sunak had abandoned plans to overrule City regulators in the face of a backlash from the technocrats at the Bank of England.

The prospect of a third policy reversal is now looming after Boris Johnson and Liz Truss weighed in behind a Tory rebellion designed to end the ban on new onshore wind farms.

With no choice but to pander to vested interests in his party and therefore no room to push through any sort of agenda, Sunak is fast becoming a lame-duck leader. Yet, of all the fights he has picked, it seems odd that the Prime Minister would choose to die in a ditch over wind farms.

For a start, research shows that opposition to onshore wind among Tory voters doesn’t exist to the extent that some in the party believe it to. On the contrary, recent polling shows that there is widespread support not just for more wind energy, but renewables more broadly.

In a survey conducted by the pollster Opinium at the beginning of November, 74pc of people expressed support for building more wind farms, with more than half strongly in favour of the move. Yet the real light-bulb moment for the Government should come from learning that 72pc of Tory voters also backed more wind farm construction.

This is completely at odds with the perception among most of the Tory elite. Separate polls conducted on behalf of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a non-profit organisation that counts among its advisers Lord Turner, the former chairman of the Government’s climate change committee, and Andrea Leadsom, the former business secretary, found that 61pc of Conservative MPS believe the people who voted for them at the last election oppose onshore wind projects.

In reality, a similar proportion of those who voted Conservative in the 2019 election say they would “think less of ” an MP who campaigned against the development of an onshore wind farm near them. There are, of course, entirely legitimate reasons for opposing onshore wind farms, especially if you happen to live near one. But often the criticism is either overblown, the result of common misconceptions, or can be addressed through technological advances combined with the right regulation and planning laws.

Wind farms can be loud, but noise pollution can be reduced to roughly the same decibels as regular street traffic or light rain if they are built outside of a 500m (1,640ft) radius, according to German state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

There are concerns too about harm to wildlife. But studies suggest cats, cars and pesticides are responsible for far more bird deaths, while measures such as painting the blades black also help to greatly lessen casualties. Effective bat and bird sensors are also being developed that stop the turbines spinning temporarily.

And although there are lingering doubts about the ability of wind energy to power our homes when the wind isn’t blowing, a wealth of research shows that the challenges posed by intermittency are often exaggerated – especially in Britain, where the wind blows most of the time.

Where wind variation does exist, it can be countered by building grids in remote but windy areas, through high capacity interconnectors that smooth variations in wind generation and by ensuring that construction goes hand in hand with developing new battery technology to provide sufficient back-up power.

To win over the sceptics that do exist, ministers need to start making some of these points more loudly.

The second point is that the energy crisis has made the case for more wind farms, and clean power more broadly, overwhelming. True, the war in Ukraine has triggered a dash for gas, but largely because the world panicked and scrambled to shore up supplies before winter struck. It should be a short-lived phenomenon until countries adjust – not least because high gas prices have made the fossil fuel a much less attractive energy source, even as a so-called “bridge” between coal or oil, and renewables.

Putin’s war has also simultaneously propelled energy efficiency to the top of the political agenda, which in turn will accelerate the push into green technologies. Sales of insulation are suddenly booming, imports of solar panels to Europe have jumped and though heat pumps are yet to take off in the UK, sales on the Continent are increasing quickly. Consumers are rushing to retrofit their homes in an attempt to lower their bills.

But what makes onshore wind so compelling is that it is now one of the cheapest forms of energy on the planet. According to the International Energy Agency, solar and wind power are the cheapest methods of power generation in the world and the costs of building turbines on land are considerably lower than erecting them out at sea.

In sticking by the ban, Sunak is ignoring the huge potential offered by onshore wind. As well as strengthening Britain’s energy security and helping to tackle climate change, it also has the potential to bring down bills at a time when households are grappling with the cost of living crisis.

But more fundamentally, the Prime Minister’s position displays a shocking ignorance of the wishes of the electorate. Voters actually want to see more fields of wind turbines.

If the Prime Minister does not change course, then his own MPS may force him to – underlining the depths of his weakness.

‘Rishi Sunak is ignoring the huge potential offered by onshore wind’