Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the Government’s policy is on onshore wind farming; and what plans he has to encourage growth in that sector when implementing the Industrial Strategy.

The Government’s policy is clear on onshore wind farming: that we do not believe that new large scale onshore wind power is right for England but in other areas where there is public support it can be developed. Further deployment in this sector is expected, supported by existing Government schemes such as the Contracts for Difference (CfD), and Feed In Tariff (FIT) which will aid delivery of cheap, clean and reliable energy in line with the aims of the Industrial Strategy.

The Government has also secured state aid approval to classify remote island wind as a separate technology in Group 2 of the CFD scheme. The Clean Growth Strategy announced that we would provide up to £557m in total of annual funding for future CFD auctions. We have consulted on how the Government could support the development of onshore wind projects on remote islands, where they benefit local communities, and are currently considering the responses we have received.