Elements of the media continue to question the viability of wind energy, questioning its very essence.

The Sunday Telegraph devoted a whole broadsheet page to the viability of wind energy.

It questioned the premise that wind farms are a good way of harnessing nature’s power.

One of the main problems of course is not so much how efficient they are at creating energy, but at their presence on the UK landscape. It’s said that there are now over 2,500 land-based wind turbines ‘polluting’ some of the country’s finest landscapes.

The Sunday Telegraph article reminded its readers of how the previous Government considered planning objections to the building of wind farms. Mr John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, once said: “We cannot let the squires and the gentry stop us meeting our moral obligation to pass this world on in a better state to our children. So let me tell them loud and clear: it’s not your backyard any more – it’s ours!”

But aesthetics aside – wind farms are now moving offshore – the central issue remains as to the viability of wind energy.

The arguments on one side are clear. The UK is the windiest country in Europe and this ‘free’ energy could provide enough juice to power the country several times over. Furthermore, for every unit of electricity generated by a wind turbine, the equivalent amount is not needed from a conventional power stations. And that existing wind turbines now in use have the capacity to stop the emission of nearly four million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

Great, the argument for the viability of wind energy.

Now the alternative argument. The key word is capacity. Wind turbines have the capacity, only if they operate at 100% all the time. In other words, they must operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in a optimum wind speed window of between six miles an hour to 55 miles an hour (when they have to shut down for safety’s sake) to achieve full capacity.

No wind turbine operates at 100%. The wind does not blow to order and Government and even industry figures suggest that the best they can hope for is a measly 30%. The problems comes down to storage. The power generated has to be used when it’s being generated. Massive storage of electricity is not possible with the current infrastructure, so when demand peaks, the power stations have to up their capacity and meet the demand then and there. Even if the wind blows on a good day, the power cannot then be stored for later use.

The Sunday Telegraph concludes that there will soon be 7,000 wind turbines operating in the UK and many of those will be offshore, and that this sheer number speaks more for the case of the politicians actually being seen to do something positive, rather than a sound economic argument.

But even this may be missing the point when considering the viability of wind energy. Wind turbines are part of a bigger strategy that will pull in renewable technologies which will in turn gradually make a difference to the C02 emissions. There is no quick-fix and that if a renewable industry has to be in effect subsidised, then so be it.

Guest Article by Neil Camp