Letter: Looking to the future
What are we really subsidising? On Radio 4's Any Questions, held in Shrewsbury, Nigel Farage peddled the UKIP line that the UK is over-subsidising wind power.
In the year to April last year, £0.7bn was given to offshore and onshore wind power, compared with £7bn paid by the UK taxpayer to the nuclear industry, mainly going on decommissioning power stations and managing dangerous toxic waste.
Per kW of energy produced, renewables do indeed receive a slightly higher subsidy than fossil fuels, but this does not reflect the fact that renewable costs will fall as the technology matures, whereas fossil fuels are set to increase in price; nor does it include fossil energy's huge cost in terms of pollution and public health.
Steve Parker, Shropshire Green Party, Shrewsbury
