What keeps the lights on in Britain.

***

Britain went into wind power almost as fast and hard as Germany: the costs have been colossal and the effects on its power grid chaotic.

Fortunately, however, David Cameron’s Conservatives followed an election manifesto, slashed subsidies to onshore wind power and gave planning veto rights back to communities. Inevitably, the construction of proposed onshore wind farms ground to a halt.

But that is little consolation for British power consumers, who now face rocketing power prices and looming blackouts. The wind power disaster playing out in Britain is like a giant python swallowing a goat: it committed to the task a decade ago and it will take a very long time for the evident impact of its initial commitment to pass through the system.

In the absence of any further subsidies there will be no new wind power capacity added and, eventually, turbines…