THE misinformed comparison of the costs of nuclear and wind power has rumbled into a second week (Letters, February 28). If wind power is so cheap, why does it need such vast subsidies?
Extensive research on the real financial performance of offshore wind has been carried out by Professor Gordon Hughes from the University of Edinburgh and his findings are based on simple calculations applied to real-world information in the form of hundreds of sets of audited wind farm accounts going back years. The work he has done is rigorous, objective and emphatically slays the myth of cheap wind power.
Even a cursory examination of the accounts lodged at Companies House for offshore wind farm operations like Beatrice, Dudgeon or Galloper will reveal that these ventures incur annual operating costs in the scores of millions for operations, maintenance and interest on their multi-billion-pound loan financing. Further, these costs are increasing year by year, not going down. Capital costs are also increasing as new wind farm developments are being built further from shore and in deeper water. Worryingly, the CfD contracts recently signed at or near £40 per MWH – remember this is price and not cost – are not viable at current cost levels which are running up to and over £100 per MWH. Check some annual accounts, the information is there.
Frances McKie (Letters, February 21) quoted £132 billion of UK nuclear decommissioning costs, which is a staggering figure. Incurred over the 70 years of the British nuclear power programme so far, this averages at £2bn or so per year. However, this bears favourable comparison with the £4bn-plus of taxpayer-funded offshore wind subsidy paid in 2021 and the further many billions of green costs applied to energy bills each year. Since wind turbines are likely to have to be replaced in 20 years or less, the capital cost and probable subsidy will repeat in predictable cycles. Compare this with the proven lifespan of a nuclear power plant at 60 years and increasing. The capital cost of the recent Beatrice offshore wind farm was £4.3m per MW of installed power. Even if Hinckley Point C costs £22bn to complete, the capital cost per MWH produced will be far less than offshore wind because of wind speed variability and the three to four times as long operational life of a nuclear asset. Simply put, we get more electricity from nuclear per pound of capital spend. Lastly, remember that the wind does not blow all the time. To compensate for this you need battery storage. The topic of storage seldom comes up in cost discussions. There is a very good reason for that. The cost of grid-scale battery storage is absolutely enormous and, similar to wind turbines, it has a relatively short operational life. However, this is another story for another day.
We need nuclear power for the foreseeable future. Given a proper hearing and compared with alternatives in the right way, it will prove itself on its own merits.
Andy Cartwright, Glasgow.
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