By James Murray, Source: BusinessGreen

The fallout from Energy Minister John Hayes’ attack on onshore wind policy has continued with coalition colleagues publicly criticising his declaration that “enough is enough” when it comes to onshore wind farm development.

The tensions within the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) over renewable energy policy were laid bare yesterday, as Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey reiterated that he was in charge of renewable energy strategy and Tory PPS Laura Sandys aimed thinly veiled criticism at those colleagues who are guilty of the “vilification” of wind energy.

In addition, the Times reported this morning that 20 Conservative MPs have written to the Prime Minister warning that continued uncertainty over energy policy is putting job-creating green infrastructure projects at risk.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group (PRASEG), Davey responded to questions about Hayes’ comments to the Daily Mail and Telegraph attacking onshore wind farms by stressing that he had specifically taken control of renewable energy strategy following the new Energy Minister’s appointment.

“We can be absolutely clear that I am in charge of renewables strategy and I see a strong future for all renewables, including onshore and offshore wind,” he said.

He added that the government should be proud of the fact it is on track to meet its goal of delivering over 13GW of onshore wind capacity by 2020, and also insisted that he understood there were concerns amongst some communities about the aesthetic impact of onshore wind farms.

But he stressed that with polls consistently showing that just under two third of people support continued wind energy developments, wind farms remained “more popular than any politician in the country”.

Davey’s comments came after Sandys, who serves as PPS to climate minister Greg Barker, argued that “smart” people were fully aware of the long-term opportunities presented by renewable energy investment and the green economy.

While failing to mention Energy Minister John Hayes by name, Sandys implicitly criticised those colleagues who seek to rule out certain forms of low carbon energy.

“There is no easy energy option,” she said. “We need to balance price and price stability, the security of supply, decarbonisation, and yes, aesthetics, as far as we can. But there is no energy source that ticks all those boxes and delivers the perfect financial and aesthetic and security components.

“Every energy option has some pain, and we’ve got to realise that and understand that this subject of energy renewal… it’s a subject for people with big ideas, it is also a subject for people with courage – courage to deliver a long-term strategy, not short-term popularity. We need a mixed energy economy, we need no vilification of any energy source, no ‘religious response’ to any generation platform.”

She also argued that the UK was not alone in pursuing a low carbon energy mix, highlighting that much of Europe, many emerging economies, and several states in America were now investing heavily in renewables as a means of decarbonising their power supplies and enhancing their energy security.

“This is something that the smart, the bright, the intelligent, the forward-thinking people are embracing at the moment,” she said. “So [those who think that] green and renewable is a form of sandal economy, a form of tie and dye t-shirt economy, really have to wake up to what is going on in the rest of the industrial community.”

Sandys’ comments were echoed yesterday by ousted Energy Minister Charles Hendry, who was replaced in the recent reshuffle by Hayes. In thinly veiled criticism of his successor, Hendry was quoted by the Times as saying that renewables were critical to the UK’s future energy security and that it was essential for ministers to maintain “constructive engagement” with the industry.

The comments came as leading investors and developers condemned the latest row over whether the government is looking to cap future wind energy development as “deeply unhelpful”.

“For years this has been a relatively boring and predictable sector from the point of view of the people sitting on committees allocating capital,” said Andrew Buglass, head of energy for Royal Bank of Scotland’s low carbon finance group.

“They have not seen [renewables policy] on the front page, they get an application for more money, it’s looked at by sector specialist, and they have not been worried about it because there has been cross-party consensus. That has been very helpful.

“But now I get emails and phone calls on an almost weekly basis from senior people in the bank – and when I compare notes with colleagues in other banks they are getting the same calls – asking ‘I’ve seen the headlines, why on earth should we continue to support this, because there isn’t a consensus and there is a potential risk of change.’ If there is one thing banks don’t like it is if there is uncertainty and a risk of change in the future that impacts the chances of getting paid back.”

His comments were echoed by Benj Sykes, director for UK markets at leading offshore wind farm developer DONG Energy.

“I have colleagues in other Northern European offshore wind markets and I do not like having to explain to head office, “yes, the UK is a stable place with consensus around the policies that relate to our business”,” Sykes said. “It is not helpful to a business like ours, particularly when I have to compete for investment with other European offshore wind markets, that you have to explain that ‘actually, it is all fine, it’s just a little bit of froth’.”

Nick Molho, head of energy policy at WWF-UK, also warned that continuing uncertainty over energy policy was bad news for consumers as the impact on the cost of capital was likely to lead to higher energy costs in the long term, regardless of which types of new energy infrastructure is built.

“[Hayes’ comments] just add to the existing climate of investment uncertainty that has been around for over a year now,” he said. “It makes investors hesitate and the more that investment gets delayed the more the investment we need to meet our renewable energy targets and keep the lights on is held back… Those sorts of statements are an own goal for the UK.”

In another worrying development this morning, there were reports that a meeting between the Prime Minister and senior ministers to try and resolve continued disagreements over the precise details of the energy bill that was planned for today has been postponed.

Downing Street sources insisted the postponement until next week was not related to yesterday’s row, but the result of the need to reschedule a meeting of the “quad” of senior coalition figures for today.

However, the news will again fuel concerns amongst investors that the Energy Bill could face further delays.