Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of subsidies paid to the (a) solar and (b) wind power industries in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.
Solar and wind have received support over the past five years from the Renewables Obligation (RO) and the Feed-in Tariff (FITs) schemes. The cost of the schemes is reclaimed from electricity consumers, not from general taxation.
The cost of supporting solar and wind through the RO in 2010/11 to 2014/15 was as follows (figures not adjusted for inflation):
2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | |
Onshore wind | £398m | £483m | £557m | £756m | £787m |
Offshore wind | £254m | £371m | £699m | £989m | £1,108m |
Solar PV | £0.2m | £0.1m | £0.9m | £35m | £134m |
Solar and some small-scale onshore wind are also supported by the FIT, but FIT costs are not available disaggregated by technology. Total support under FiT in 2013/14 (the latest year for which data are available) was £691m.