Christopher Booker's piece on windfarm policy this morning visits old ground for BH readers, namely Gordon Hughes' report on the deterioration of wind turbine performance over time. There is, however, an important bit of information towards the end of the article:
I gather that Prof Hughes showed his research to David MacKay, the chief scientific adviser to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, who could not dispute his findings. So DECC is fully aware of this devastating flaw in its projections, but presses on with its insane policy regardless.
Now we know that MacKay knows that windfarm performance is likely to deteriorate significantly over time, it will increasingly difficult for DECC to hold to their current course. If they do then question marks will surely be raised over the integrity of those involved - both ministers and civil servants.
That said, I hear on the grapevine that the cuts to onshore windfarm subsidies announced last week are marginal and unlikely to affect investor behaviour. So while the government have led us to believe that they are changing their tune on onshore wind, it is likely that this was in fact just an attempt to pull the wool over the public eyes.
That being the case, I hold out little hope that the new estimates of turbine performance will affect DECC's behaviour. Nevertheless it will be interesting to see if they incorporate these figures in their cost estimates and then plough on regardless or if they try to bluff it out and pretend that Hughes is wrong.