Vestas tells UK consumers onshore wind is good choice

Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) today launched a campaign designed to raise awareness among UK consumers that onshore wind is one of the country's cheapest new sources of electricity.

The campaign is called Power to your Pocket and comes as Vestas said it believed it was time to reach out directly to consumers.

"Vestas wants to help consumers understand the benefit onshore wind brings to their pocket as well as their planet," Morten Dyrholm, vice president, global marketing and public affairs, said in a press release. "Onshore wind is one of the UK’s cheapest sources of new power and soon will be the cheapest. An energy mix with higher levels of low cost onshore wind could therefore save consumers money," he also said.

The manufacturer cited projections by Bloomberg New Energy Finance that onshore wind farms built in the UK from 2019 onwards will be cheaper than new gas generation.

Vestas will mount the campaign across its social media platforms.

The UK government has withdrawn subsidies for new onshore wind. Speaking to The Telegraph last week, the new head of trade body RenewableUK, Hugh McNeal, said that in spite of the subsidies' end, more onshore wind farms could be built in parts of the UK, but most likely not in England where the wind speeds were insufficient to undercut gas power.

The UK government has said it was listening to industry on how the so-called subsidy-free contracts for difference (CfDs) for onshore wind could be delivered. It has not provided further details on that option, though. Subsidy-free CfD is basically used to refer to contracts where wind gets equivalent support to a new build gas plant as currently no new generation is viable without support.

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