Wind energy is a useful addition but wind energy at sea will be costly.At present it takes three to four years to pay back the energy used to get a land windmill made and sited. I have not seen the figures for those offshore lately, but they were forecast at five to eight years.

Since then it appears that to cut cabling cost and to maximise output they have been built too close togetherso this is more likely to be seven to eleven years- no wonder banks are not interested!

Yes, we need wind power, but it needs to be sited close to its use, as line losses can be very significant!As wind power output grows, more conventional plants will be on standby just in case the wind drops and this means carbon emissions from plants not generating but having to be live, using pumps running, etc. are quite high compared to normal operations.

As oil and gas increases in price we will have to move towards hydrogen for fuel cells with some manufacture being used to stabilise the system.

Keith Trimble

GENERAL MANAGER,ANGLO CARBON