Many have claimed that solar and wind power will be the future of energy in the United Kingdom. The advantages, both financial and environmental, would be immediate according to some groups, as Britain has a staggering amount of potential wind power to harness. However, others claim that the true cost of converting to wind has not yet be revealed, and when it is, many people make back away from the issue. The wind faction in the United Kingdom suffered a large setback as a recent report revealed that the cost of generating power with wind may be much higher than once expected.
The National Grid released a document that stated the true cost of wind power may be more than three thousand times more expensive than conventional energy sources. While the original Government estimates for the cost of the shift to wind were relatively low, the National Grid’s numbers revealed that it could potentially cost two hundred and fifty billion pounds to upgrade the countries electric grid. This is bad news for the Labour Party as it has attached much of its hopes on renewable energy sources, especially wind. The National Grid claims that wind power could cost anywhere from 300 to 800 pounds per megawatt hour, while the average home currently pays just over twenty pounds per megawatt hour.
One of the major problems is the inconsistency of wind which will often lead to both surpluses and shortages of power because a power plant cannot simply be turned on and off like a light switch.
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