UK sufferes drop in subsidies for offshore windfarms

Subsidy costs for British offshore windfarms are likely to fall below that of new nuclear plants in next month’s UK government auction, the head of Siemens offshore wind turbines business has said.

The UK government is under pressure to bring down users’ electricity costs at the same time as subsidising low-carbon generation to help meet its carbon emission reduction targets and plug a looming supply gap.

The next government auction setting prices for new renewable power projects will open in April and Clark MacFarlane, Siemens managing director for offshore wind, said this could see offshore wind costs fall below new nuclear for the first time.