Backwell, who took over the reins at GWEC in June, told “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç TV the auction shift has been a "catalyst" for the industry increasing efficiency, bringing down levelised cost of energy (LCOE) and making wind competitive with other energy sources.
"The challenge now is to keep bringing the LCOE down," he told “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç TV.
"This year, I’m going to go around saying, Wind is cheap, but it is not free.
"Governments and markets need to be realistic and realise that market design needs to be carried out in a way so we avoid things like cannibalising prices at certain times of the day so the price becomes nothing, or the project economics don’t work."
He added: "The wind industry needs to progress, keep growing and make the developments in industrial capacity it needs to keep growing."