Has Panorama fallen for some dodgy figures?

Nicky Stocks

07 November 2011

Tonight's Panorama includes a claim that Britain could save £34 billion if it ditched plans for offshore wind energy.

It's a figure from a report by accountants KPMG that's making waves in the papers and on TV.

It hasn't been released yet but our energy experts have had a look at the claims and are concerned that KPMG's numbers don't quite add up.

The terms 'capital costs' and 'running costs' take me back to my struggle through economics A-level and threaten to bring me out in a cold sweat.

But you don't need to be an economics guru to see that something fishy is going on.

The £34bn figure is based on the cost of setting up different energy types - not the cost of running them on an ongoing basis.

It's a bit like buying a car and failing to account for the cost of filling it with petrol.

Obviously supplying power stations with gas is pretty different from supplying wind turbines with wind - especially as the cost of gas has gone up by 90% in the past 10 years.

It's not the first time renewable energy has come under fire in recent months - or the first time media has fallen for some dubious data on this.

We'll be watching closely and tweeting throughout the programme. Follow our updates.

Nicky Stocks, Communications & Media Team

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