Onshore wind development gets £1.4 billion boost in UK

Onshore wind farm developers in Britain could get access to as much as £1.4 billion in new funding to help them start construction over the next three years.

Three UK-based banks began offering new loans to eligible onshore wind farms during a forum in London hosted by Energy & Climate Secretary Ed Miliband and Chancellor Alistair Darling. The scheme is being supported by HMTreasury and the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide up to £700 million of the new finance, with the remainder matched by RBS, Lloyds Banking Group and BNP Paribas Fortis.

The loans will be available to eligible onshore wind projects with a total project cost of between £20 million and £100 million.

“We welcome the EIB’s commitment to provide this vital funding for renewable projects across the UK,” said the Chancellor, Rt Hon, Alistair Darling, MP. “The money that is being made available will help continue the essential work of building the UK’s capacity in renewable energy.”

He continued, “As the Government continues to push for a global agreement on climate change at Copenhagen it is even more important that we live up to our responsibilities and make progress in reducing this country’s dependence on carbon. This government is determined to provide all the support that is needed to secure a greener future.”

“The UK now has 4 gigawatts of wind capacity,” added Miliband. “And the pace of installation is picking up. It took us 14 years to build the first gigawatt, and just one year to build the last. But we still need a six-fold increase in renewables by 2020 to hit our renewables target. That target is vital if we are to be on course to cutting emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

“So we need to pull out the stops including making sure the capital is there to build the wind farms in the first place. This partnership of the EIB with RBS, BNP Paribas Fortis and Lloyds Banking group will address that problem.”

“The EIB’s contribution to transforming wind energy generation in the United Kingdom is a core element of our support for renewable energy technology across Europe,” said Simon Brooks, EIB’s European vice president responsible for the United Kingdom. “We are sure that targeted support, following UK and European Union policy combating climate change, will facilitate rapid and sustained investment in the industry and promote continued transformation to a low-carbon economy.”