High-priced offshore windfarms save nothing on emissions

The extremely expensive wind farms that had to be built because of the Energy Accord signed last year, will provide no CO2 advantage for the Netherlands, De Telegraaf reports. The reason for this is that the efficient co-generation plants were removed from the agreement at the last moment of the negotiations. The result is that the CO2 savings, which the offshore wind farms were supposed to deliver, are completely nullified. The wind farms on the coast form only a small part of the Energy Accord, but they are by far the most expensive part. According to figures from Minister Henk Kamp, the wind farms cost about 18 billion euros. Ed Nijpels, chairman of the committee that oversees compliance with the Energy Accord, says that the whole agreement will cost around 50 billion euros. However, some critics say that the agreement will realistically amount to around 100 billion euros.