Miliband's wind farm push set to add £1.8bn to bills

ED Miliband's offshore wind farm boom may add as much as £1.8billion a year in green levies to energy bills.

- STEPH SPYRO

Ministers yesterday announced the biggest expansion of such wind farms through subsidy contracts.

The six new ventures include Berwick Bank, an SSE project off the coast of East Lothian.

It will be the world's biggest offshore wind farm with more than 300 turbines each up to 355m high - and spread over 1,000 square kilometres.

The Energy Secretary claimed the move was "a monumental step towards clean power by 2030" and would be significantly cheaper than the alternative of building gas plants.

Levies on electricity bills to fund the farms could reach £1.8bn a year when they start generating by 2030.

Unstable

However, the renewables industry claims this would be largely offset by savings from the wind farms lowering wholesale power prices.