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Government Subsidies for Wind Power Hit Record Levels

by David Turver
13 January 2024 11:00 AM

Overnight, the Low Carbon Capture Company (LCCC) released the full data for renewables subsidies for December 2023. This is a short article that analyses the level of subsidies going to wind and other renewables.

Figure 1 shows the monthly subsidies for onshore (grey bars) and offshore (blue bars) wind since 2017. The orange area is offshore generation and the yellow area in onshore generation each month.

Figure 1 - Record CfD Subsidies for Wind Power in December 2023 (£)
Figure 1: Record CfD Subsidies for Wind Power in December 2023 (£)

December saw the highest subsidies on record at over £255m. The next highest month was February 2020 at £188m. The months for highest generation tend to be December to February or March, so we might expect subsidies to continue at similar levels for some months to come.

The subsidies are paid to top-up the revenue of wind farm operators to the value of their Contract for Difference (CfD) when the market reference price is below the strike price of the CfD. Typically, the market reference price is set by gas-fired generation, so when the blue/grey bars are positive wind power is more expensive than gas. When the bars are negative, wind is cheaper than gas.

For some months in late-2021 and during 2022, gas was more expensive, so the operators had to pay back some of what they received so they did not get more than their strike price. However, gas prices have fallen since 2022 and CfD strike prices are index-linked and rise each year in line with inflation. So, even though gas prices are at the high end of their pre-crisis range, the gap between strike prices and gas prices has been rising again so subsidies have gone up.

However, as more wind farms have come online and taken up their CfD contracts, the amount of generation has also risen, so the average subsidy per MWh in 2023 was lower than that in 2020. If gas prices stay around their current level, we can expect another jump in subsidies from April 2024 as CfD strike prices index upwards again.

Figure 2 shows total CfD subsidies by year across all technologies.

Figure 2 - Total CfD Subsidies by Technology by Year (£)
Figure 2: Total CfD Subsidies by Technology by Year (£)

The CfD subsidies for technologies other than wind are tiny in comparison. Overall subsidies for 2023 were the third highest on record at £1.45bn, just under the £1.5bn recorded in 2019. The subsidies for 2023 rose steadily each quarter, with the fourth quarter of 2023 coming in at £604m, close to the peak of £658m in the fourth quarter of 2020. It is therefore entirely possible that 2024 will run 2020 close to become the record year for subsidies.

Looking at 2022, the £346m paid back during that year is trivial in comparison to the overall £7.2bn paid in subsidies since 2017.

My conclusion from this is that renewables are not and never have been cheap. There was of course the anomaly of the gas supply crisis in 2022, exacerbated by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Gas prices are still elevated even though the crisis has abated, but subsidies are back to high levels and look set to increase. Do not let anyone tell you that renewables are cheap.

David Turver writes the Eigen Values Substack page, where this article first appeared.

Tags: Climate AlarmismNet ZeroPropagandaRenewable energyWind Power

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22 Comments
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Richardk
Richardk
8 months ago

The receipts are now coming in, it seems

5
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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
8 months ago

Trump was consistently ahead in the polls while Biden was the candidate. Now Harris is ahead. Trump needs to be way ahead before it’s possible he can win. It looks grim. For normies it’s a straight choice between your great country having a future and becoming part of the third world – seems like more than half want to be part of the third world. I suppose at least Trump is getting close to half – a lot more than most immigration restrictionist parties do in Europe.

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JXB
JXB
8 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Is she? Which polls?

3
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
8 months ago
Reply to  JXB

Presidential General & Primary Elections | Latest Polls | RealClearPolling

I tend to look at the swing state polls rather than the national ones – the national polls seem pretty meaningless to me.

1
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FerdIII
FerdIII
8 months ago
Reply to  JXB

The Fake ones that the normtards believe in.
In reality Drumpf is likely winning 2:1

1
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
8 months ago

But pet-eating aside, we all know why these places are getting dumped with loads of migrants.

”Those granted asylum become citizens within 5 years, which is just over one Presidential election cycle and then vote overwhelmingly Democrat.

This is why so many are being placed in large numbers in Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio and other swing states.

To create permanent one-party rule by the “Democrats”.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1835997285425058002

Got to agree with Matt Wallace here;

”When Democrats have one party control and we are essentially a communist dictatorship with a forever shit economy, only then will many idiot white Americans who supported them realize what they have done. We will be Venezuela 2.0 and no going back.”

”There’s a whole lot of fraud going on”. Captain Obvious;

”It’s no coincidence that swing states and key states have skyrocketing amounts of people registering to vote without ID. Democrats are in the process of permanently rigging our elections with illegal migrants.”

https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1836046305338220689

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JXB
JXB
8 months ago

Trump is master at getting $millions worth of free media cover. The media folk are so dumb they can’t see it and readily oblige.

4
0
stewart
stewart
8 months ago
Reply to  JXB

Are they dumb? If Trump gets them the clicks and the clicks is what they want…

Maybe the dumb ones are the liberals who crave and consume the anti-Trump porn they need to feed their delusional superiority complex.

2
0
Ron Smith
Ron Smith
8 months ago

” also means homeless immigrants have been squatting in random people’s gardens, forcing householders to flee”

What in the land of the 2nd amendment, what is going on there. I remember in the early 90s spending the weekend at a mates housing estate in Carterton Oxon, with all the houses looking the same, I walked into a different house. Nobody saw me and I quickly walked back out. After I remember them joking how if I was in the US I could be shot.

2
0
Ron Smith
Ron Smith
8 months ago

““I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60-year-old white man”

I suspect a good dad would not want his son killed at all!

5
0
Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago
Reply to  Ron Smith

Yes, the father’s comment was disgusting.

0
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
8 months ago

Off T but it has to go somewhere it’s too good to miss.

https://countrysquire.co.uk/2024/09/18/a-matter-of-life-and-death/

An absolutely first class article on the disaster that is the NHS by Paul Horgan.

“Allegedly a planned service, it is now clear that no plans were ever made by overpaid and under-skilled bureaucrats for the eventuality that the UK population would endure violent inorganic increase through barely-controlled immigration, the majority of the arrivals coming from countries with staggeringly poor health outcomes and appalling health-impacting cultural practices. The NHS has failed to respond to market forces because it is impossible for the NHS to do so.”

Last edited 8 months ago by huxleypiggles
5
-1
Ron Smith
Ron Smith
8 months ago

“Had you ever heard of Springfield, Ohio, before the debate went out”

BBC yesterday afternoon. They mentioned Springfield and them played an audience laughing when Trump made that claim, making you think it was Springfield residents making the ruckus. I wonder if those old residents who had Haitians in their garden were laughing along, probably not.

4
0
Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago

Haitian Migrants Demanding to ‘Rent’ Local Chickens: “They … Dipped Under the Fence Chasing my Little Duckies” (infowars.com)

“Field reporter Tayler Hansen visited Springfield, Ohio recently to speak with locals about the alleged Haitian migrant crisis. One of them, a lady who raises chickens, confirmed that she has had multiple run-ins with Haitian migrants trying to steal or “rent” her poultry for food.

“We had a set of Haitians that showed up in the driveway, pulled in, laying on the horn,” the lady explained. “They were demanding to rent a chicken.”

After the lady told the Haitian migrants that her chickens are not for sale, they “got very angry, very agitated that we would not sell them a chicken,” the lady said. “It took my husband to run them off for them to leave.” [Luckily, Americans have the 2nd Amendment]

In another instance, a group of Haitian migrants was walking down the street when suddenly they “dipped under the fence chasing my little duckies here,” the lady further revealed. “

Last edited 8 months ago by Heretic
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Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
8 months ago

Pets do get eaten when times get hard you can see how quickly people do this if you look at the Great Depression. I don’t know about this town but I have seen videos of cats been eaten alive and some killed and then barbecued on the street. If you are hungry and you don’t really have the same concept of pets as we have in cushy countries then why wouldn’t you eat a cat or dog? I am not knocking it because I eat meat and I can well imagine a time when the neighbour’s cat becomes the lesser of two evils.

1
-2
Corky Ringspot
Corky Ringspot
8 months ago

Stephen, great article as usual, but enough with cheesy puns already! “Ace Vancetura – Pet Detective” etc. Very inventive but getting a bit tedious.

1
0
Mark T
Mark T
8 months ago

“But did she really?”

Yes, she did – by miles. And despite the fact that she didn’t say much of substance and the moderators were one-sided (both of which Trump should very easily have exploited but his personality meant that he was incapable of that), one of the main reasons is because:

“And yet, rather than specifically mentioning all this genuine, provable, real-life human horror, Trump and his running-mate preferred to chat cat.” And: “…J.D. Vance cheerily admitted he had amplified unproven claims about pet-eating voodooist savages purely in order “to draw attention” to the unmitigated cat-astrophe of uncontrolled immigration unleashed by Biden and Harris.”

Despite many real and important issues that millions of voters would benefit from hearing debated and discussed by actual adults in a serious manner, the best Trump and Vance can do is the above. Vance, in particular, is highly intelligent. He should already be treated with scepticism for a 180 degree turn from comparing Trump to Hitler in 2016 to Trump himself stating that Vance is “in love… and kissing my ass”. But his disdain for those who don’t think like he does is both becoming more obvious the more he speaks and is approaching and on par level with the Dems disdain for those who don’t think like they do, either.

0
0
Covid-1984
Covid-1984
8 months ago

Make no mistake. God sent President Trump. God will not be cowed by Satan’s acolytes in the Democrat Party

0
-1
Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago
Reply to  Covid-1984

YOU are making a grave mistake, worshipping The AntiChrist Drumpf !!!

No one gets to be leader of any country unless they are a fully paid-up member of the Illuminati Globalist Mafia Gang. Don’t be hornswoggled by the fake assassination attempts on the AntiChrist to get public sympathy.

Do not tell us what God thinks, because you do not know.

Wake up! Open your eyes and see.

Last edited 8 months ago by Heretic
0
0
Rusty123
Rusty123
8 months ago

I find the absolute hatred between both partys in the US fascinating, its almost as if the real facts don’t count, just how much “media” can be promoted, damn thats the UK too, and both countrys currently “run” by someone who wouldn’t be out of place in a Mental asylum!

1
0
Tom Forrester-Paton
Tom Forrester-Paton
8 months ago

Another great piece Steven. One small point- not even the French speak of ‘un gateaux’. If they wish to speak of a single delicious cake, they use the word ’gateau’.

1
0

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