‘Constraint payments’
have been declared a
“national embarrassment”
and a power management
“disgrace”.
Wind farms in Britain
were paid a record £.9.3m
to switch off their turbines
on Friday, May 22.
More than 80 plants
across England and Scotland
are handed ‘constraint payments’,
when supply outstrips demand,
by the National Grid.
Consumers will pay the bill
of £6.9m to 66 Scottish plants
and £1.9m to 14 offshore
plants in England.
The previous single day
record payout to wind farm
operators was £4.8m
on Oct 8, 2018, when t
it was too wondy.
Windy and sunny weather
combined with the lack
of demand due to the
COVID-19 lockdown
is the likely cause.
Dr John Constable, director of
Renewable Energy Foundation,
a UK charity that monitors
energy use, said:
“Overdeployment of renewables in the UK, particularly uncontrollable wind and solar, has resulted in a very fragile electricity system, which is inflexible and unable to deal with accidents and unexpected circumstances at a reasonable cost to consumers.
“Grid balancing expenditure so far this year is already horrific and by the end of the summer it will be terrifying.
“This is a national embarrassment, and a disgrace to the management of the electricity sector who have complacently allowed this crisis to develop over the last decade.”
The charity previously
revealed that operators
of 86 wind farms in Britain
were handed a record of
more than £136m
in constraint payments
last year.