Energy minister Andrea Leadsom said DECC is “looking carefully” at introducing a market-stabilising Contract for Difference for onshore wind.
Speaking at today’s DECC oral questions, Leadsom confirmed the department is taking seriously proposals for market-stabilising CfDs, sometimes called a subsidy-free CfD.
“I’m not making any promises but we are looking carefully at this proposition,” she said.
“It is not something we can introduce on the back of a fag packet, it needs careful consideration as it is not cost-free or risk-free to consumers.”
Leadsom defended DECC’s decision to close the Renewables Obligation for onshore wind a year early, as otherwise there would be “extra” levels of deployment beyond what it deems necessary to meet its 2020 goals.
“We’ve struck the right balance between the national need for renewables and local communities to have their wishes taken into account,” she said.
Energy secretary Amber Rudd said the findings of a report commissioned in 2014 into the acoustic character of wind turbine noise known as amplitude modulation would be published “shortly”.
Rudd said the findings of the review by Institute of Acoustics, which concluded last spring, would include whether a planning condition might be appropriate.
Image: (Morgue File)
