London lifts blockage on onshore wind power

“Onshore wind projects supported by local people will be approved more quickly in England” under new measures which will ensure that “the whole community has a say and not just a small number of opponents”, said a government press release.

The government "continues to believe that decisions concerning onshore wind power are best taken by local representatives", but they will now have to "adopt a more balanced approach", added the executive in a written statement to Parliament.

When the local population supports a wind turbine project on their territory, this could also result in discounts on energy prices charged in the region, according to the executive's proposals.

Too little, according to Greenpeace. “These weak adjustments are nothing but wind,” denounced the NGO in a press release, assuring that they will not remove the uncertainty of developers in the face of the “fanciful” decisions of local authorities.

If the current rules, introduced under the Conservative David Cameron in 2015, were denounced by the Labor opposition, the government was also under pressure from MPs within its own ranks, and in particular from Alok Sharma, who was president of COP26 in 2021 .

But opposition to onshore wind energy is "rooted" in the beliefs of the Conservative party, says Greenpeace, which also denounces Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's recent decision to authorize "hundreds" of new exploration and development licenses. oil and gas exploitation in the North Sea.

And if the United Kingdom is one of the world leaders in offshore wind turbines, the halt in July by the Swedish electricity group Vattenfall of the development of a vast wind project off the coast of the United Kingdom dealt a blow to the the country's ambition in renewables.