How the government's energy policies will benefit a rich sheikh at the expense of the poor

Today Ed Davey launched the London Array, an enormous offshore wind farm, and the Prime Minister posed for pictures with a sheikh whose sovereign wealth fund put up part of the money to finance it. But HH Sheikh Abduhall Bin Zayed is not backing this project out of the goodness of his heart. The Emiratis aim to make a return out of the lavish subsidies on offer.

Just last week, the Government announced that from next year offshore wind will get a guaranteed price – under the new ‘contracts for difference’ in the Energy Bill – of £155 /MWh. Electricity currently sells on the wholesale market for about £50 /MWh. Offshore wind therefore gets three times the price of conventional energy. The London Array will presumably be supported under the earlier Renewables Obligation scheme but the level of subsidy is similar.

How exactly have we got to a world in which Ministers are proud of signing a deal where poor families pay three times as much for their energy and the money is handed over in fat profits to an Emirati sheikhdom?