Britain’s greenest energy supply company yesterday turned on what might be
England’s last onshore wind park, as Ecotricity founder and former hippy
Dale Vince lamented that the once-dynamic onshore wind industry had been
“effectively killed off by government policy” which blocks all new
developments <south of the Anglo-Scottish Border>
The company’s new three windmill site at Alveston in Gloucestershire will
provide enough electricity to power more than 3,000 homes for the next 30
years.
A new report from the Energy and Climate Change Intelligence Unit (ECIU)
think tank supports the widespread view that new onshore wind energy
development in the UK is an economic opportunity as well as environmental.
It estimates the current <English> government policy could more than £1
billion to consumers’ energy bills over the next four years,because onshore
wind is cheaper than other sources of power which the government backs
financially, like nuclear, biomass and offshore wind generation.
Vince said: “It’s always great to build another wind park and put it into
operation. This one is a little bittersweet because without a change of
government, or government policy, this could be the last one built in England.
“Current government policy, to prevent new wind parks in England makes no
sense and is a political choice – because onshore energy isn’t just good
for the environment, it makes good economic sense too.”
Dale Vince is a green energy pioneer, having masterminded the world’s first
green energy company back in 1995 when he launched Ecotricity, then built
his first windmill in 1996 near Stroud, approximately 21 years and 21 miles
from this latest – and possibly last – wind park.
When Ecotricity switched on its first electricity windmill 21 years ago,
less than 3% of the UK’s electricity was renewable: this now sits at a
significant 25%.
One of the obstacles to greater levels of renewable energy on the grid is
the ability to store electricity, which has been commercially difficult
until now. Recent advances in battery technology made by the global take up
of battery-powered vehicles (BPVs) make this now possible.
The company now has 25 wind parks with over 70 windmills that generate
around 90MW a year – almost a quarter of all electricity used by
Ecotricity’s 200,000+ customers.
Meanwhile, Ecotricity is building one of the country’s first grid scale
battery storage projects on the Alveston site.
The 10MW project will share the grid connection with these three new
windmills, making better use of the available capacity – and enable
Ecotricity to balance variations between supply and demand each half hour
of each day.
Meanwhile, Ecotricity and has teamed-up with Boston-based charge-point
manufacturer Rolec EV to launch a new domestic electricity plug-adaptor to
re-charge battery-powered vehicles (BPVs) with 100% green electricity.
Ecotricity says its Fully Charged Bundle ‘plug-n-drive’ re-charger will
save the average BPV household around £120 a year compared to a Big Six
standard tariff.
Vince said: “Our ambition in doing this is clear – to make BPV charging at
home and on the road more simple, joined up and cost effective for existing
and new electric vehicle drivers, and in this way to encourage more people
to go electric.”
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