Vattenfall scraps UK wind project after subsidy cuts

Swedish energy company Vattenfall has scrapped a planned 69 MW wind project in Lincolnshire, after government subsidy cuts “introduced increased risk in the process”.

China Wind farm
China Wind farm

The project was first floated in 2013 and was set to be host to 20 wind turbines.

It was being built as part of a planning process known as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning. In June this year, the government proposed changes to this regime, including removing onshore wind farms of over 50 MW in size from this process.

“It’s obviously disappointing to stop development of Nocton Fen as it would have delivered significant benefit locally and generated affordable, clean and renewable energy for tens of thousands of homes every year,” said Graham Davey, Vattenfall’s project manager for the Nocton Fen Wind Energy Project.

“It was clear that proposed changes to onshore wind planning in England introduced increased risk in the process. Stopping the scheme now is a sensible decision.”

The government also recently announced that it would close the Renewables Obligation to new onshore wind farms from April 2016, one year earlier than previously planned.

The news came on the same day that Centrica announced it would be divesting its wind portfolio in the UK.

This article originally appeared on www.cleanenergypipeline.com a clean energy news service operated by VB Research, a sister publication to The Engineer. The reporter, Zak Bentley, can be reached at zak.bentley@vbresearch.com.