Hurricane-force gusts prompt record payments to British wind farms
Strong summer winds produce more electricity than can be consumed
Scottish wind farms received a record $7.2 million, or 5.5 million pounds, to shut down this month after hurricane-force gusts produced more electricity than could be consumed.
Unusually strong summer winds blowing as high as 115 miles an hour swept the Scottish Highlands on Aug. 7, prompting National Grid Plc to ask energy generators to curtail production, according to the London-based company’s commercial-operations manager Claire Spedding. The weather resulted in the U.K. grid operator awarding a record 7.3 million pounds in total payments across a range of technologies.
“It was a perfect storm: very windy, very sunny, but not actually that warm,” Spedding said in a phone interview. The Aug. 7 winds blew on a Sunday afternoon when power consumption on the national grid also hit a record low, she said.
Rapid growth in renewables has caused power congestion on particularly windy or sunny days across the world. National Grid sometimes pays operators to switch off in order to balance its network. The company also pays generators to raise output to fill gaps when demand surges. The winds on Aug. 7, which prompted a weather warning from the Met Office, also disrupted train services because of fallen trees.
It’s not just wind farms that receive payments to occasionally to switch off. National Grid paid other fuel types such as hydro, nuclear and oil 8.75 million pounds in the first three months of the year, compared to 10.08 million pounds for wind, it said. The company can also curb trading with other countries through interconnectors.
The morning of Sunday, Aug. 7, saw power demand fall to record lows amid seasonally cool temperatures during a month when many people are on vacation.
Wind farms have received more than 255 million pounds to idle since payments began in 2010, according to National Grid. Spedding said the payments cost less than building an oversized grid that can handle power surges on unusually windy days.