Business leaders claim UK's wind farms do not help the economy

Business leaders have raised concerns the UK's fast growth in offshore wind is not being matched with benefits to the economy.
The port of Blyth in Northumberland was once the biggest exporter of coal in Europe but has transformed itself into a leading hub for offshore energy, and most of its work is with offshore wind.
Its chief executive told Sky News the UK could get to net-zero emissions - but with the economy missing out.
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[@snickerfox5575]

brilliant, because if there is someone I trust more than anyone in the world, its business leaders

[@marknorris3769]

lol

[@UnipornFrumm]

Oil business leaders*

[@karenhales1032]

Facetious I hope! 😳😏

[@julianshepherd2038]

@@karenhales1032 no. Just someone that is paying for the 2008 banking crash by people who called themselves "masters of the universe". Or maybe he heard the oil was running out in 2014 only to be told there was lots more quickly after the Scottish independence referendum

[@paulanthonycordova1724]

@@julianshepherd2038 it's sarcasm don't take it harshly

[@CrispyKaiser]

they’re not supposed to help the economy, they’re supposed to help the environment

[@jameslee8941]

They do both

[@therealdjt532]

They don't help the environment. The production of these windturbines requires massive amounts of electricity to be made along with the use of petro chemicals used in the blades.

[@danbuck11]

@@therealdjt532 Which is offset by the energy that it produces over it's lifetime

[@Leo-fg1sk]

finally someone reasonable

[@TheDanno34]

@@danbuck11 they don’t have a ‘lifetime’ long enough to pay for themselves 😫

[@danielwhyatt3278]

This is definitely the right way to go. It’s great that we are investing so heavily in it. Although we definitely need to ramp up production of the actual components in the UK rather than just importing them. If we can actually do such extensive tests in this country, then surely we can make them as well.

[@lilbaz8732]

After covid and brexit the uk must start producing more stuff in our own boarders. We've seen with ppe/vaccines what happens if our supply lines are cut.

[@anglosaxonmike8325]

Over the winter the useless windmills produced about 5% of our electricity. Today 1%.. Insanity

[@zytigon]

Is it a problem that we get 7 days in a row of calm weather over UK where total electricity from UK wind turbines is less than 1 GW when total wind turbine capacity is over 15 GW and total demand in UK is about 35 GW ? Is the answer to have thousands of diesel generators spread across UK to run on the weeks with no wind ?

[@contrarian604]

@@anglosaxonmike8325 Well-said. the EU and UK has sunk tens of billions of pounds and euros into the insanity of "green" renewable energy, albeit in the contradiction of shutting down nuclear, throttling domestic gas production, and maintaining coal (such as in Germany) Net carbon emissions have grown, not decreased. Nuclear is the only energy source that will bring net carbon emissions down from current levels. Expecting solar and wind to supply any more than a few percentage of total energy demand is a pipe-dream.

[@CarriUSA]

Ironically “ investing” is government subsidies aka off the tax payer and only survives off taking way too much money from hard working people. And it sky rockets those hard working peoples utilities..energy poverty!

[@Muppetkeeper]

1. Gas power killed coal, not wind power, Blythe would be a wasteland without wind power. 2. Tell the people in the blade manufacturing factory in Grimsby that there is no benefit to wind energy. 3. Quoting physically huge countries such as France or Germany as having more onshore wind is just daft. 4. The whole report based around a single “business leader” who is angling for a government grant!

[@Binsonhope]

Well it’s the future of the human race vs profits

[@pauls4857]

greed has always won it dates back to the beginning of Christianity, they created a cult and got people bringing them gold tributes, the scam was going well until the vikings taxed them.

[@UnipornFrumm]

Wind is more profitable then oil snd coal

[@pauls4857]

@Paradox Pete it is about as accurate as it comes.

[@KiLLJoYYouTube]

It’s not the future though, and it’s not even the optimal solution.

[@andpeoplesayineedalife6418]

@Patrick Swan we live on a island an we target wind farms why?

[@beachboy0505]

Excellent, UK 🇬🇧 needs to create its own turbine technology

[@Newtube_Channel]

The technology exists and is well established. It's putting it out that's the real challenge. Forgotten how to make and implement things. In fact much of what goes on in the economy works counter to many primary objectives. Everyone's out for themselves.

[@contrarian604]

The EU and UK has sunk tens if not hundreds of billions of pounds and euros into the insanity of "green" renewable energy, albeit in the contradiction of shutting down nuclear, throttling domestic gas production, and maintaining coal (such as in Germany) Net carbon emissions have grown, not decreased. Nuclear is the only energy source that will bring net carbon emissions down from current levels. Expecting solar and wind to supply any more than a few percentage of total energy demand is a pipe-dream.

[@stucrawford6230]

We should be building them here, importing them is madness,

[@timmurphy5541]

Well, should have invested many years ago - too late now.

[@jondonnelly4831]

Never too late, turbine tech is evolving fast and old ones will need replaced.

[@Andrew-ri5qo]

The UK's biggest wind farm is in Westminster. Powered by 650 dedicated operatives.

[@anglosaxonmike8325]

What a waste of money. Producing almost nothing today, just 1%. What an expensive joke.

[@boonkinnabcake]

. Wind farms are massive graveyards . Windmills vibrate. Fish use a sixth Sense called a lateral Line. The fish use it to detect vibrations in the water. Vibrations equals danger in most cases . (Larger fish bigger vibration) most fish Will not go near a windfarm . Also most fish in the northsea is flat fish or bottem fish . These kinds of fish prefer a flat (sand, muddy) seabed. Windfarms are filled with Stones to prevent erosion. Dolfins use vibrations for navigation and get desoriëntated from these vibrations. And then there is constant leakedge of hydrolic oil from windmills wich pollute any water filtering animals like mussels and oysters in wich become uneateble

[@contrarian604]

Well-spoken. Wind is an incredibly inefficient means of obtaining electricity from the natural world. Wind is probably the least power-dense medium there is. Completely insanity that makes zero sense from an environment nor cost-benefit analysis.

[@thefleecer3673]

Birds get killed by these environmental disasters too

[@licheprince]

im amazed the comments arent disabled

[@davejones538]

I should imagine they cost a lot of money to make and just go rusty and breakdown

[@johno4521]

These blades are a future environmental disaster as they cannot currently be recycled and with an only 20 year lifespan that's a lot of landfill - roughly 20,000 tons per year based on the 11,000 turbines currently in the UK.

[@CarriUSA]

And what’s in those blades…Balsa wood…they’re cutting down and destroying the rain forests of the Amazon for the Balsa wood . Funny how the greenies are so worried about the environment and rain forest when they’re the ones destroying it. Toxic sludge water , lakes,and land from dredging for battery materials. Absolute insanity.

[@LukeMM95]

Great. Another problem I'm sure the 99% will have to deal with and all to fix an issue that doesn't exist.

[@Larsbor]

In time there will be a way to reuse them, it must be possible.. at least they are not burned up

[@BoogieKnight1976]

September 2022, energy bills at all time highest. Wind farms - ugly waste of time .

[@thefleecer3673]

And in fact an environmental disaster

[@aurthurlarry9002]

God got the best plans for financial growth

[@christopherbrain4472]

it will take time for things to come back to normalcy, people's jobs were really lost

[@harrysmith5129]

@Eric Ronald I've heard different news about Bitcoin and how tricky it is but people still say it's safe

[@estakim41]

@@harrysmith5129 Bitcoin and forex trading is 100% safe with an expert to avoid losses and risk.

[@estakim41]

People go into Bitcoin wrongly and that's why they always complain about losses

[@lesedimpho3201]

I've learnt my lessons on trading and I can't fall victim anymore

[@sociolocomtsac]

They don't need to have wind turbines in the middle of the neighborhood....

[@erika002]

Ah yes, Wind Turbines doesn't apparently produce money instead of zero emission electricity generation. Who built this plant in UK? These hypocrites are not clearly thinking of the Businessmen!!! THE POOR BUSINESSMEN!!! WE ARE DOOMED.

[@suzyrottencrotch5132]

I think the concern there was the earth if I’m not mistaken not so much the economy

[@lilbaz8732]

They are not saying we shouldn't build them. They're saying we should be the ones building them.

[@acptelford1307]

Why should my taxes subsidise wind power? It’s so inefficient

[@zactheking321]

How many tonnes of diesel used by the service boats every?

[@mikehutchison4892]

It didn’t help that the Tory Govt. banned onshore turbines for the more expensive and difficult offshore. It did help that Wind Companies had to pay £880 million (75% to Crown Estates,25% to the Queen ) for permission to build,since she “owns” the shoreline……..and that’s why ‘the rich get richer !!! £220 m to the richest woman in the world…….increased energy prices for the people.

[@BKFan342]

TLDR - what they're saying is that because the blades are manufactured outside of the UK, there's not as much jobs that could be had if they are manufactured in the UK. Sounds like the UK needs some of those factories for their own offshore wind needs.

[@rothgartheviking858]

No one wants to invest in it because they don't make money. The cost more money to fix an maintain then the power the generate. Just look at the landfills filled with wind turbine blades it will blow your mind. The cost of sending a ship out to see to maintain and fix this windmills is insane. It may be green but if does not make money people wont invest.

[@SMX815]

We should have had these some 20 years ago & same with solar panels on our roofs, so on & so forth.

[@CarriUSA]

Everyone knows solar isn’t efficient and basically doesn’t work…period. Hell, even in the desert it doesn’t work. Funny how solar is a petro product and each wind mill uses over 100 gallons of oil for lubrication that needs to be changed out every year. Funny how wind mills are destroying well water, is a fire hazard and caused wildfires, is destroying the Amazon forest for its inner wood, is a ecological hazard that destroys wildlife habitat and kills billions of insects , a food sources for birds, bats, and more besides killing billions of birds bats butterfly’s into extinction, and causing landslides! Lithium batteries ( reputation for over heating and fires) are impossible to extinguish the fires and have burned down homes, sunk ships, and in Illinois they had to use cement to put out the fire in a battery storage center. The smoke is toxic and whole areas in these storage facilities had to be evacuated. Absolute insanity. So why would greenies not back nuclear and hydro? Environmentalist believe in no human use…rivers to be natural. Under Obama he shut down 250 hydro dams in the Pacific Northwest …it was a disaster! Pure hypocrisy and insanity. Power and greed, nothing more!

[@sermodur]

Here are the oil sector again fighting against the competition of wind energy

[@acptelford1307]

I’m sick of my taxes subsidising wind power

[@nightnight7998]

Ah yes. Because I'm sure what a corporation says is about helping the people and not lining their own pockets with cash

[@wilfredprins9718]

Big fail on the ctv crew, she was standing outside with her lifejacket not properly done

[@wuhanlabtech3580]

Thank god the north sea wind never stops .. ohh nvm

[@flippinheck]

The greatest con ever, will eventually reveal itself , and those lobbiests and takers will have made a pretty good profit off the people's back, the best white elephant I've seen yet.

[@Isambardify]

Cool, so want to explain how they don't benefit the economy then?

[@kevoneone]

Why are the comments turned off if it has anything to do with Noel Clarke

[@davidgriffin2918]

Looks good , just hope it doesn't cost us to much.

[@Ushio01]

It's going to cost us crippling blackouts as climate change makes wind power far less reliable than fossil fuels that we are foolishly abandoning far to fast. Natural gas over coal which we did then we need to replace ICE vehicles with BEV's. Continue building renewables but we need to stop shutting down nuclear and natural gas plants as fast as we are with renewables being so intermittent.

[@iainphillips3725]

*Big Oil CEOs say wind is bad for economy* Screw the economy I want to grow up in a world with rainforests and ice caps

[@goawakeneveryone4365]

And a micro chip on your shoulder!

[@johnjames4681]

"Anytime soon" to wrap it up. Yuk.

[@elainefoster8089]

i love this s much

[@stephenwade4976]

I don't understand why the wind turbine only have one head and set of blades, there's definitely room for improvement.

[@retro_gamer_uk]

Make it in the UK.

[@crush40cool]

I’m from Blyth!

[@ChrisLaw84]

This is why energy prices of non renewable energy are going up.

[@UnipornFrumm]

Oil businessman *

[@josha5933]

I would have thought not drowning was rather good for the economy tbh

[@petername2608]

Net zero means zero Fossil fuels. Without Fossil fuels we won't have gdp or economy .😁

[@UnipornFrumm]

Eh,how? Uk doesent export fossile fuels Gdp is money moving,while building renewebles the gdp is higher then keeping the old fossile plants

[@afrodoodable]

The football analogy was 🤌🏿

[@alandyson3925]

This is not news this is propaganda

[@Charlie43348]

Yep. Rich people who probably own coal factories paying news to make it seem that renewable energy is terrible so we return to coal so they get richer

[@miguelangelalvarezagudo1719]

Very interesting

[@jasonking6892]

Well what's new The British 🇬🇧Government not fit for purpose

[@hermangroot4919]

Title does not match the content and is misleading Should be: Business leaders claim that investment in wind energy research would benefit UK's economy

[@prodigiii712]

Who’s installing the wind turbines. Local workers. This guy saying it doesn’t benefit local economy is being clueless.

[@aqelixenergy]

No actually its not local workers, typically it is a specialist team that come in and install them, rarely from the local area.

[@prodigiii712]

@@aqelixenergy and who operates those windmills.

[@aqelixenergy]

@@prodigiii712 Large national/ private investors.

[@prodigiii712]

@@aqelixenergy the employees that operate the wind turbines are very likely local. Although I’m not sure but that makes more sense.

[@aqelixenergy]

@@prodigiii712 Typically engineers travel around sites not local to them. Occasionally there might be locals, but in the grand scheme of things, it really doesnt benefit the local economy. Your point was about 'Who's installing the wind turbines'.

[@daveofyorkshire301]

What business leaders? Are we talking about all those business leaders complaining they're going out of business, or the ones that have no knowledge of offshore wind farms? Don't we actually sell energy from these wind farms as an export? Are these business leaders who are commenting exporters?

[@spateri728]

I wish Sky News Australia was like the UK version.

[@dura4634]

Why ? The uk version is mostly propaganda

[@darkstar223]

These business leaders who depending on oil revenue ……by the way

[@matthewcole2633]

Dear business leaders, the economy will not save the collapse of our ecosystems.

[@UnipornFrumm]

They fossile fuels business leaders. I see aldi having solar panels on the roof,so clearly retail busines leaders dont complain about renewebles

[@mickyjaguar2282]

Well said

[@benny210169]

Are these oil and gas business leaders?

[@dougcharles5004]

It’s certainly help the economy of the companies that manufacture wind turbines. 💵💵💵💵💵💵

[@randomoverpopulatedworldid3286]

that's short term thinking. long term, it will thrive. humans think in years not centuries.

[@damianEVKing]

But is helping the world!!!

[@garygavin857]

Never let the true economics get in the way of a story. Energy is not cheap and certainly not green energy. Solar and wind spend a lot time curtailed due to lack of storage. Good news, we will muddle our way through to a successful system.

[@jchristian8413]

hydrogen is on its way as a battery

[@therealdjt532]

Very expensive operation these windturbines are.

[@UnipornFrumm]

Still cheaper then coal

[@thomaswood2390]

No longer. Wind is the Cheapest energy in the UK when construction costs are considered.

[@aqelixenergy]

@@thomaswood2390 Only because of government subsides and constraint payments.

[@harleyblue999]

It's all double Dutch to me,few more the UK will be joining Europe again literally.

[@kh7736]

Please its not about money save our planet! 😭

[@Orphan_Heart14]

👍

[@drepachi77]

IT NOT SUPPOST TO HELP THEM

[@imranramzan1795]

They are just for show, paid millions to stay switched off

[@Mufcforever-sl2gf]

It will get there eventually, give it time for god sake

[@dannyashton6234]

they're not meant to help the economy they're meant to help the environment...

[@marksolway4018]

Or help the electric supply lol.

[@petera8083]

But they help the environment - I think trying to save the planet is much more important then economic greed!

[@vadhedungar8341]

#Amnesty

[@beatboxandrodneck4548]

These ridiculous things take more power than a shopping mall uses for a week to make and then won’t even run your toaster efficiently! Total waste of time and resources!

[@rtfazeberdee3519]

Wouldn't expect this government to invest in anything other then their pockets

[@anglosaxonmike8325]

They are an expensive disaster. Today, all UK turbines are only producing 1% of electricity. Insanity.

[@carolinejayes157]

Invest in wind and solar also make insulation affordable for everyone,

[@acptelford1307]

Invest in a loss making business? No thanks

[@markjones6873]

Build the batteries to go with them = problem solved. Simples!

[@patrick_roberts]

This is the best time to invest in cryptocurrency 💯

[@larryange]

Exactly!! In few years time people will b kicking themselves in regrets if they miss the opportunity of buying and investing in crypto currency.

[@brittstones1502]

I have always got interest in Bitcoin maybe I will give it a try.

[@ellenthompson803]

How does this whole Bitcoin thing work?Am interested in it and willing to invest but I don’t really understand..

[@kennethlarocco8283]

I tried investing in Bitcoin but got confused and discouraged the constant rise and fall in price.

[@Ivanmoses0]

I even thought I'm the only one he has helped walk through the fears and falls of trade

[@julianshepherd2038]

What will we do when the wind runs out ? Oh yeah, tidal.

[@Bobbynutty]

They cause more harm than good realistically the should be dismantled do your research people

[@tobyclements3791]

What harm do they do?

[@thecasualfront7432]

They’re not there ton “help the economy”, they’re there to generate electricity.

[@lilbaz8732]

Why can't they do both?

[@thecasualfront7432]

@@lilbaz8732 that’s like saying “why don’t cars bake bread?”

[@lilbaz8732]

@@thecasualfront7432 not at all. If we build the turbines in the uk it would help the economy and help cut our emissions. The maintenance on the turbines is done by russians as the companies don't want to pay minimum wage. So they sail from norway to just off the scottish coast. Wouldn't it be better for the environment and the economy if those jobs went to scottish people? Instead of transporting parts from china we could make them here.

[@thecasualfront7432]

@@lilbaz8732 the objective is to reduce CO2 emissions, to do this we need to maximise wind turbine production. To maximise turbine production we need them built cheaply. To have them built cheaply, we need to buy them from countries poorer than our own.

[@kevt3318]

Great news. Renewable energy should be for the environment and the people, not business leaders .

[@outandaboutwithrob]

A waist of money

[@jimmyneutron470]

Lol

[@sugarbabylove1000]

Which business leaders? Coal mine owners? Though it's true that the government should help former coal industry areas to diversify, not just leave folk unemployed.

[@mikehutchison4892]

Google Lord Ridley& Richard Dice…..opencast coal…….big Tory donors + Vote Leave (otherwise known as…..”give us the power,muppets,brigade”.

[@reality0815]

Covid and environment are morphing into one lol

[@TheDanno34]

We are in the switchover phase

[@garyjohnson..]

That was the plan from day one..nothing to do with the common colds cousin..that's cured flu worldwide by the way..

[@preppercoops741]

The green new deal is designed for profits, and not services. Nuclear and Hydro are the only reliable, cleaner energy systems. The trouble though with nuclear, is that we have had 2 terrible incidents, so when these systems go wrong, they go really wrong with long term ramifications.

[@UDF2WoZza1]

Dumb statement, wind turbines are not for the economy, they are for the world we need to survive.........

[@Charlzton]

I'll take a viable planet over larger profit margins for CEOs any day of the week

[@mrmarmellow563]

SHAMEFULL..Headlines Im UNSUB'D!🧐 YANKEE INTERFERENCE is da Only Way The TITLE NEEDZ LIKE THAT..Spin'd🧐🌈🤬

[@mickyjaguar2282]

Business leaders can go do one. We need more wind farms especially with the Russian situation.

[@bigdundee12345]

We dont match germany when it comes to on shore wind? Thats because we have a million square miles of sea! Stick em out there! Germany dont have a coast lol

[@rorykeegan1895]

Germany does not have a coast? Germany has 98 ports, I wonder how they did that without a coast.

[@timmurphy5541]

It's much cheaper to build on land but some numpties ...

[@stonedog9643]

@@rorykeegan1895 most are inland, it has 3 major ones.

[@Leo-fg1sk]

Burning coal is one of the most efficient ways for the manufacturing and industry, but after some hundred years, which I'm already being super conservative, the world wouldn't be livable for humans. It's tough, we all have to sacrifice our interest so that the future generations can still live on the earth. Therefore, I really dislike those who only think about their own interest when it comes to protect the environment. They're just simply selfish

[@TheDanno34]

Nuclear is the only way