Energy bills

DAVID McMillan (Letters, 6 March) criticises Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson for saying nuclear power is cheaper than wind power. He then states that the £3 million/MW capital costs of building nuclear power stations are now no different from the capital costs of building onshore wind farms and so Mr Stevenson is wrong.

But the figures given are more exactly described as being the capital costs per MW of "installed capacity", which is the rated output of a power station at its maximum design capability. The average output over a year will be reduced by a ratio known as the "load factor" and for a nuclear power station the load factor is about 85-90 per cent, whereas for an onshore wind farm the load factor is only about 25 per cent.

Mr McMillan's figures would, therefore, seem to indicate that wind power is 3.2 to 3.6 times more expensive than nuclear power and that Mr Stevenson was right to say so. The more wind farms we build, the more expensive will our electricity become.

WILLIAM OXENHAM

Easter Currie Place

Currie, Edinburgh