Ukraine built more onshore wind turbines in past year than England

Ukraine has completed more onshore wind turbines than England since it was occupied by Russian soldiers – despite the UK government’s promise to relax restrictions on onshore windfarms.

Only two onshore wind turbines have been installed in England since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, generating 1 megawatt (MW) of electricity in the Staffordshire village of Keele.

Ukraine’s Tyligulska wind power plant, meanwhile, the first to be built in a conflict zone, has begun generating enough clean electricity to power about 200,000 homes just 60 miles from the frontline in the southern region of Mykolaiv, with 19 turbines providing an installed capacity of 114MW.

Ed Miliband, the shadow climate change secretary, said: “This extraordinary revelation is a terrible indictment of Rishi Sunak and his staggering failure to end the onshore wind ban.

“Even governments fighting for their very survival can get on and build the clean energy infrastructure needed to tackle the cost of living crisis, the energy security crisis, and the climate crisis with more urgency than the Tories can muster.”

No 10 promised last year to dismantle an effective ban on onshore windfarms in England, which was put in place in 2015 by tightening planning restrictions in the national planning policy framework. However, the government is yet to make any changes and campaigners believe a rebellion of backbench Tory MPs threatens to pile pressure on ministers to make only modest tweaks to the framework, which would continue to hold back the rollout of English windfarms.

The ban on onshore wind, which is one of the cheapest sources of electricity, is estimated to have cost UK billpayers £800m over the past winter when millions were plunged into fuel poverty for the first time due to rising global energy market prices, according to analysts at the Energy and Climate Change Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

British households face energy bills that are expected to remain above pre-pandemic levels until the end of the decade after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a surge in global energy markets last year. Although global prices have retreated from record highs they are likely to remain far higher than usual while European countries seek alternative energy sources to help replace Russia’s gas exports.

Miliband said the Conservatives’ “absurd ban on onshore wind” had cost every family in Britain £180 and left the energy system “dependent on fossil fuel dictators like Putin”.

Sam Richards, the founder and campaign director of Britain Remade, which campaigns for green economic growth, said: “It’s simply mind-boggling that Ukraine, while it fights for its survival, has built more onshore wind capacity than England.

“The government should start by dropping its ban on new onshore windfarms in England – at the stroke of a pen unlocking the cheapest source of energy available.”

A government spokesperson said: “Since 2010, we’ve increased the amount of renewable energy capacity connected to the grid by 500% – the second highest amount in Europe – installing 3,790MW of additional capacity across all renewables in 2022 alone.”We continue to support more renewable projects to come online, including onshore wind if there is local community backing, as clean, more affordable energy brings down costs for consumers and boosts our long-term energy security.”

The Labour party has put forward plans to end the onshore wind ban and make Britain “a clean energy superpower” by 2030. Part of its plan includes setting up publicly owned energy company, GB Energy, to produce “cheap, clean power in Britain, for Britain”.

Ukraine’s largest private energy investor, DTEK, said its Tyligulska windfarm was on track to become the largest onshore windfarm in eastern Europe once complete.

Maxim Timchenko, DTEK’s chief executive, said the farm was “a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance to Russian attempts to freeze Ukraine into submission”, which would help to “build Ukraine back greener and cleaner and become a key partner in Europe’s energy future”.

In January, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, told the World Economic Forum in Davos that there would be no investment in new oil and gas fields in Britain under a Labour government.

Starmer is expected to set out his energy plans next month, including a pledge to ban all new North Sea oil and gas licences, the Sunday Times reported.

cover photo:A Ukrainian flag over a turbine at the Tyligulska power station in the Mykolaiv region. Ukraine finished building the first part of the power station during the Russian invasion. Photograph: Igor Tkachenko/EPA