Wind industry says it now record numbers of people employed in the UK – but
critics say the subsidy bill has risen even faster
By Emily Gosden
Wind farm developers receive more than £115,000 in subsidy for every person
they employ in the UK, new analysis shows.
There are now a record 15,500 people directly employed in the onshore and
offshore wind industries in the UK, according to a report released today by
wind lobby group Renewable UK.
But the bill for subsidies to wind farm owners is now estimated to be a
record £1.8bn a year, according to industry critics the Renewable Energy
Foundation – and has risen even faster than the number of “green jobs”.
Last summer the Telegraph disclosed that each job in the industry was
effectively subsidised by £100,000 a year, reflecting the 12,000 people
Renewable UK said were directly employed at the time, and estimated £1.2bn
annual subsidy costs.
The increased subsidy-per-job rate since then reflects first power being
generated from new offshore wind farms, which receive far higher subsidies
than those onshore.
Yet jobs in the offshore wind industry actually fell slightly over the past
year, according to Renewable UK, in anticipation of a slow-down in
construction next year.
In total there are now 8,679 people employed in the onshore wind industry
and 6,746 in the offshore sector, Renewable UK said. This compares with a
total of 9,000 in the entire UK wind industry four years ago.
Ed Davey, the energy secretary, said: “The energy sector is powering
Britain’s economic recovery – and the jobs created in the wind industry
show why Britain’s the global number one for offshore wind capacity and
investment.”
But John Constable, director of REF, said: “Large numbers of soft,
subsidised, jobs in the wind energy sector is nothing to boast about; it
indicates low productivity and high cost energy, which of course destroys
real jobs in the rest of the economy.
“What we really want is a high productivity energy sector with a small
number of well-paid, highly skilled employees, producing cheap energy that
creates fundamentally viable employment in the rest of the economy.”
Mr Constable’s comments are supported by a report by the Government-funded
UK Energy Research Centre which last week said: “In the long-term, if the
economy is expected to return to full employment, then ‘job creation’ is
not a meaningful concept.
“In this context, high labour intensity is not in itself a desirable
quality, and ‘green jobs’ is not a particularly useful prism through which
to view the benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency investment.
What matters in the long-term is overall economic efficiency.”
Maf Smith, deputy chief executive of Renewable UK, said: “Green jobs are
important because they are high-value jobs. But over time it’s clear that
the technologies we choose to get our power from we will choose because
they are most cost effective and help us tackle climate change.
“You can’t assume the reason we are generating this power is just
employment: the main reason we are generating this power is to keep the
lights on and make sure we are less dependent on imports. In doing that we
also need to maximise economic benefits to the UK.”
He said the effective subsidy cost of green jobs would decrease with time,
for example with a new Siemens factory employing 1,000 people in Hull
opening in 2016.
“As the industry invests and we see the manufacturing jobs come through the
job benefits will be even clearer,” he said.
1 Comment