Wind power plan is worse than useless

That seems to be the conclusion of a new, independent report published today.

Using wind data from the Met Office, researchers found that in January, when energy demand is highest, wind farms often fail to produce enough electricity, dropping on occasion to 4 per cent of their maximum output.

At 6pm on February 2 2006 - the point of peak electricity demand for the whole year - wind farms would have been unable to provide any power at all, researchers found.

Britain aims to achieve 10 per cent of its supplied electrical energy from renewable resources by 2010, and 20 per cent by 2020.

Right - so where would that 20% shortfall come from when the wind don't blow? Yep - fossil fuel plants which would have to be switched on and off to meet demand when the wind farms don't cut it.

"The problem is that wind power volatility requires fossil fuel plants to be switched on and off, which damages them and means that even more plants will have to be built. Carbon savings will be less than expected, because cheaper, less efficient plant will be used to support these wind power fluctuations"

According to James Oswald who led the study. And, of course, these fossil fuel plants will have to be maintained, staffed and ready for action at any time even when they are doing nothing - and that, of course, costs money. And that means even higher energy bills because we'll be paying twice for our power generation. No one in their right mind can consider this a good idea.

So now we have an independent report that completely demolishes the case for wind farms can we please stop carpeting our glorious English countryside in these grotesque monstrosities!