Plans to levy a charge of up to 11% of revenue on Spanish wind energy producers have been condemned by the industry there and are described as being “the final blow for wind energy” by President of the Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE) Rocio Sicre. Media reports have said that the production of nuclear, hydroelectric and thermoelectric energy would be charged a lower 4 %, with an additional tax of 10 euros per megawatt for nuclear and 15 euros per megawatt for hydroelectric.

EWEA CEO Christian Kjaer has said that ““I am appalled by the proposal of the Spanish Government to introduce a discriminatory tax on wind power generation. Such a tax would destroy Spanish jobs, undermine world-class Spanish wind energy companies and set a very bad precedent for Governments in Europe and beyond. As such it poses a threat to the world-leading European wind industry.”

Wind energy was front-page news in the UK this weekend with the revelation that Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne plans on cutting subsidies for onshore wind turbines by 25%, a move that would “kill dead” the industry, according to RenewableUK. At the same time, the Chancellor will maintain Government support for nuclear and fossil fuels which account for the largest proportion of Government support for energy.

The news came despite Prime Minister David Cameron’s election campaign promises to be the “greenest government ever” and in the face of a new poll which reveals that a majority of Britons actually want more wind energy.

Donald Trump

Anti-wind protestors in the UK have been dealt a blow by a series of polls which show strong support for clean energy, continued renewables subsidies, and for a decrease in reliance on burning fossil fuels like gas.

New York tycoon Donald Trump is one of the more prominent wind critics, as he seeks to develop a golf course in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. Today Trump is appearing in front of Holyrood’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee to claim that turbines will affect the tourism industry and that wind power cannot survive without subsidies.

“Wind farms are noisy.” “We can’t rely on wind because it is intermittent.” “Wind farms are dangerous to human health.” “Wind doesn’t work – wind farms are inefficient as they are only operational 30% of the time.”

These are some of the myths of wind energy that are thoroughly debunked by a new website set up by British Wind at www.british-wind.co.uk. The sentiments above are the type of ill-conceived, badly-informed ideas on wind energy that newspaper readers are subjected to with increasing frequency in the British media.

Ireland is on the threshold of becoming an exporter of energy. Having traditionally imported fuel or burned locally-produced peat to provide energy, Ireland is now looking at bringing in €6bn a year in export revenues in less than a decade.

The source of this potential “windfall” is the increasing number of wind farms around the country. This growth is encouraged by the government, whose Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte today announced the opening of a new support scheme for renewable energy at the Irish Wind Energy Association’s annual conference in Dublin.