| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Windpower subsidies remain unclaimed
Credit: YLE, www.yle.fi ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Although tens of millions of euros were earmarked to advance the sector this year, the construction of a national windpower network is proceeding more slowly than expected. Windpower companies blame regulations such as those that prohibit building them even dozens of kilometres away from airports.
Firms in the sector have laid plans to erect as many as 1,000 new windmills, but now a significant proportion of those projects have been delayed.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks has been legislation banning tall structures within large zones around airports.
According to the Finnish Wind Power Association’s board chair, Jari Suominen, planning and applying for permits are very time-consuming, expensive processes.
“Nearly half of the places with good winds are within the restricted areas around airports,” he says. “Postponement of these projects means hundreds of millions of euros in extra costs.”
Promising developments – but too late for this year
The Finnish Transport Safety Agency (TraFi) is now drawing up new criteria that could provide more room for windmills within aviation zones.
The Finnish Defence Forces have also blocked some projects on the grounds that they could interfere with radar observations. A new research procedure has just been prepared that allows the FDF to precisely determine which mills would disrupt radar operations. So the army will probably be able to give a green light to some projects soon.
The state is committed to supporting renewable energy this year by guaranteeing a certain price for electricity. However the EU did not approve this so-called feed-in tariff until last spring.
Since windpower plants have not moved forward as expected, few firms have applied for these subsidies. Nearly all the funds reserved for such subsidies – more than 50 million euros – will have to be returned to state coffers.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=13482 ]
