Abstract :
The author discusses the different levels of investment in wind energy in Germany, the USA and the UK. In the UK the visible success of government intervention under the nonfossil obligations is the envy of the world. In the eyes of a Conservative government, any subsidy is suspect, and the declared aim of its support is convergence. The government wants to see prices for subsidised energy converge with typical free-market energy prices. The successful British method is to auction the subsidies. Anyone can bid the price at which their scheme will generate electricity. Then the government allows support for only the cheapest ones. This has driven prices fiercely downwards, and convergence is getting very close. There are some who say that convergence has already been reached and that wind energy is now economic in its own right. This suggestion is not too popular with the wind industry itself, because it would mean the end of attractive government subsidies