£350m gone with the wind

Cash is doled out to switch off turbines

MORE than £350million has been given to wind farm operators over the past seven years to switch off their turbines.

The money has been paid because they are producing more energy than the nation can take.

Payments have escalated with more and more wind farms being built, despite the problems using their power. A record 69 were paid to switch off during one weekend last month.

National Grid, which operates the UK electricity supply, compensates wind farms and other energy sources if it asks them to switch off, with payments passed on to consumers.

National Grid paid £334.7million to wind farms between 2010 and September this year. It is estimated to have paid a further £24.5million since then.

Payments have risen from £200,000 in 2010 – the first year they were made – to £85.4million in 2016.

Scotland’s wind farms are the primary recipients of these ‘constraint payments’ because the country has growing numbers of turbines but the grid cannot yet efficiently move the electricity they produce further south, where it is needed.

Several recent payments have gone to new wind farms – meaning they have been asked to switch off almost as soon as they have opened.

SSE’s Bhlaraidh wind farm near Invermoriston, Invernessshire, received its first constraint payment on August 10, the same month it was fully connected to the grid.

EDF Energy Renewables’ Corriemoillie wind farm, near Garve, Ross-shire, was connected to the grid in November 2016 and became operational in January 2017 – before getting its first payment in March 2017. It formally opened in June.

Dr Lee Moroney, research director at the Renewable Energy Foundation, said: ‘The fact that new wind farms are constrained off as soon as they start generating, sometimes even before they are officially opened, shows that the Scottish Government has allowed the wind sector to become seriously overheated.

‘This is very bad for consumers, who have to pay high constraint payments in the short run and high grid expansion costs in the longer run.’

Trade body Renewable UK said constraint payments were ‘the most cost-effective way of maintaining the delicate balance of electricity supply within the limitations of the network’.

A National Grid spokesman said: ‘We balance supply and demand of electricity minute by minute and transport electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed.

‘We ask generators to come on or off the grid to keep the system balanced – ensuring there is energy across the UK whenever and wherever it is needed.

‘Wind constraint payments are the most economically efficient way of managing additional green capacity while we retain and reinforce capacity on our electricity network.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Renewable energy supports 26,000 jobs in Scotland and with turnover of £5billion annually is a key driver of our economy.

‘Onshore wind is among our lowest cost electricity sources, far cheaper than nuclear, making a very strong contribution to a balanced energy mix while helping keep prices down.

‘Constraint payments are just one way the National Grid manages transmission and reflects network congestion, where grid capacity has not yet caught up with electricity generation.

‘Investment in increased grid capacity will eliminate the need for these payments.’

‘Seriously overheated’