Sturgeon’s wind turbines cost UK £90m a year – to stay switched off 

In the latest blunder in Ms Sturgeon’s “critical” energy policy, a plant with 11 wind turbines was shut down after just two WEEKS because they weren’t needed.

Energy customers have already funded £10,000 in subsidies to keep the 110 metre-tall turbines on Assel Valley Wind Farm in Ayrshire switched off due to an energy surplus– after opening on October 28.

Express.co.uk can reveal Ms Sturgeon’s Government, who intervened to grant the application of the wind farm 30 miles from her home town, has overseen the approval of upwards of 200 large scale Scottish onshore wind farms. Of these no less than 36 have been paid £248m since 2010 and £87.8m in 2015 alone from customers to switch off.

The bungling SNP energy policy comes just a week after Ms Sturgeon personally visited the offices of a Chinese firm, owned by the communist government, which has bought two of the country’s largest offshore facilities in Scotland despite one of those facilities under performing.

According to the Renewable Energy Foundation, the latest project Assel Valley Wind Farm in Ayrshire reduced its output on November 11 2016.

It has been the focus of fierce criticism from the local community who were furious the Scottish Government overruled the local council to grant permission.

Local resident Kim Terry said recently: “Everyone in the village is devastated by the decision and we are starting to wonder why we even bother now.

“This goes completely against the council’s decision so we feel completely powerless. I genuinely feel there is no democracy in Scotland anymore.”

The Renewable Energy Foundation says this latest revelation is just the tip of the iceberg and something is seriously wrong in the decision making process in Scotland.

Their report states: “On the 28th of October, Falk Renewables announced that its newest wind power station, Assel Valley Wind Farm in Ayrshire, had begun generating.

“Two weeks later, on the 11th of November, Assel Valley wind farm had to reduce output on instruction from National Grid in order to cope with the on-going problem of Scottish wind farms generating surplus electricity which can neither be used in Scotland, because of low demand, nor exported to England because of the limited interconnector capacity between the two countries.

“The speed with which a new wind farm such as Assel Valley was constrained off almost immediately after commissioning, shows that the overbuild of wind power in Scotland has now reached critical levels, levels that even very expensive grid expansion will struggle to address.

“The consumer is getting a very bad deal, and the further cost is added to what were already expensive emissions savings, well in excess of the social cost of carbon.”

Last year Ms Sturgeon slammed David Cameron after UK ministers scrapped subsidies following complaints, mainly from England, about the impact of wind farms on the countryside.

She revealed that as many as 70% of planned wind farms are set for Scotland confirming they are out of proportion.

She fumed: “Your Government’s decision to cut planned support for renewable energy sets an extremely bad example to other countries, will put at risk Scotland’s renewable energy targets, and also runs counter to your manifesto commitment to cut emissions as cost-effectively as possible.”

However the news of this latest failure has been criticised by the Tories in Scotland, a spokesman said: “It’s no wonder people are so fed up with windfarms when details like this emerge.

“Turbines don’t work when the wind isn’t blowing, and now it seems they don’t work when it actually is blowing either.

“While wind energy most definitely has a place, it is too intermittent and unreliable to depend on completely.

“That’s where the SNP is making an expensive mistake which could risk our ability to keep the lights on in future.”

The Scottish Government said: “An appeal was lodged with Scottish Ministers following the decision by South Ayrshire Council, at which point a reporter from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division of the Scottish Government was appointed by Ministers to consider and make the final decision on the appeal.

“The decision was based entirely on the planning merits of the case.”