Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, has deemed wind farms as “absolutely useless” and “an absolute disgrace,” the Sunday Telegraph reported.
“He said they were absolutely useless, completely reliant on subsidies and an absolute disgrace,” Infinergy senior executive Esbjorn Wilmar told the newspaper.
Infinergy is a company that builds and operates turbines.
Wilmar met Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, at a reception in London, where the prince also reportedly said onshore wind farms would never work as they need back-up capacity.
He also shunned Wilmar’s point that wind farms were one of the most cost-effective forms of renewable energy.
“You don’t believe in fairy tales, do you?'” Wilmar said Prince Philip had responded, and even told him to stay away from his estate when Wilmar suggested the prince could place wind farms on his land.
A spokesman for Prince Philip told The Sunday Telegraph that Buckingham Palace would not comment on a private conversation.