UK wind farms delivered more power to the grid than any other form of generation in the first quarter, but, according to one fund manager, the industry is now overblown.
Argonaut Capital chief investment officer Barry Norris argues that wind, which is subsidised by the government and dependent on the weather, has now reached peak market share.
Moreover, the professional investor reckons weather-dependent renewables like wind and solar exacerbate the uncertainty and instability in the UK energy mix.
Wind “only provides power where we already have cheap power”, he says, suggesting big swings in supply, from abundant cheap power at peak generation to costly undersupply when there’s too little breeze for turbines to turn. It results in further destabilision of electricity markets.
Intermittently profitable gas-fired power operators need to shut off power stations more regularly because they can’t compete during more blustery moments.
“Solar is worse than wind because it obviously does not work during the winter or the night [and] adding more market share is basically completely useless and actually compounds the energy crisis,” Norris claimed.
“The other choice you have is effectively coal or biomass which is effectively wood pellets that are even more polluting than coal,” he added.
He predicted that countries outside of Europe and North America will not stop using fossil fuels, whilst insisting the UK has reached its decarbonisation limits.
“We actually have a moral obligation to invest in commodities and fossil fuels because if we don't do that, the West is going to fall behind the rest of the world and the rest of the world doesn't have the same political values,” Norris concluded.
Perhaps more controversially, the City money-man said that hydrocarbon producers, offshore in the North Sea or the UK’s fledgling shale gas industry potentially offers the best options.
New nuclear is another potential solution, he notes.