The Energy Minister has today announced that he will be rejecting the application to build a very large wind farm on the Whinash ridge in the Lake District.

This decision is a welcome recognition that on-shore wind energy can have severe environmental impacts that outweigh its modest benefits.

Far from damaging the overall renewables sector this decision gives hope to other technologies such as tidal and biomass that can offer firm, reliable power.

German and Danish evidence has been growing over the last two years with the German grid operator Eon Netz revealing grid balancing problems and ancillary costs. Eon estimates that due to intermittency nearly 24,000 wind
turbines would be needed to close two medium sized power stations (equivalent to only 2.6% of the UK's generating fleet).

Together with the very sharp price volatility of the gas sector over this winter, European experience of wind power has meant that expert confidence in the 2003 energy white paper's wind + gas grid is fast ebbing away.

Dr John Constable, Director of Policy and Research for the Renewable Energy Foundation said, "This is an enormously significant indication of the shape of things to come. Canny investors will realise that the on-shore wind bonanza is over and that the future belongs to technologies, such as tidal
and biomass with high intrinsic merit."