Ukraine: Ukraine has managed to surpass England in the completion of onshore wind turbines, despite the latter’s government’s pledge to ease restrictions on wind farms. This revelation comes in the wake of Russia’s occupation of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
Since the invasion, England has only managed to install a meagre two onshore wind turbines, generating a mere 1 megawatt (MW) of electricity in the village of Keele in Staffordshire. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Tyligulska wind power plant, located just 60 miles away from the conflict’s frontline in the southern region of Mykolaiv, has commenced operations, producing enough clean electricity to power approximately 200,000 households.
The remarkable achievement was made possible through the utilization of 19 turbines, which collectively possess an installed capacity of 114 MW. Notably, this wind power plant is the first to be constructed in a conflict zone.
Mr. Ed Miliband, the shadow climate change secretary, commented that “this extraordinary revelation is a terrible indictment of Mr. Rishi Sunak and his staggering failure to end the onshore wind ban.”
Mr. Miliband argued that even governments facing dire circumstances have managed to construct essential clean energy infrastructure with greater urgency than the Tories.
In 2022, the UK government promised to dismantle the effective ban on onshore wind farms in England, which had been put in place in 2015 through stricter planning restrictions outlined in the National Planning Policy Framework. However, no concrete changes have been made thus far, leading campaigners to believe that a group of rebel backbench Tory MPs could exert pressure on ministers to implement only minor adjustments to the framework, thereby impeding the expansion of wind farms in England.
Mr. Miliband further criticised the Conservatives’ “absurd ban on onshore wind,” arguing that it has burdened every British family with an additional £180 and has left the energy system reliant on dictators like Mr. Putin.
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