An ill wind

You report (Business, 22 October) that the renewable energy firm Infinis Energy, which has a number of wind farms in Scotland, is planning to float on the London stock market with an expected value of £1 billion.

Clearly someone is going to make a lot of money out of this flotation and good luck to them but it is instructive to learn how this has been achieved.

Out of the £226m of revenues this company will generate from renewables such as on-shore wind in 2013 the renewable incentive element provided by the government will be in the region of £115m.

It takes your breath away that in a time of real energy poverty our government, instead of cutting bills, would rather use our money to subsidise renewable energy companies paying out large dividends to their shareholders.

Alan Black

Camus Avenue

Edinburgh