Wind farms have been paid to cease producing as much as 50 per cent of the electrical energy they’re able to producing, in response to analysis from The Renewable Power Basis (REF) and first printed in The Sunday Telegraph.
REF advised the “constraint funds” – that are finally added to client payments – had been being fuelled by a excessive focus of onshore wind farms in Scotland usually leaving the electrical energy grid unable to manage on windy days.
Its evaluation revealed that, in 2020, three giant wind farms in Scotland had been paid £24.5m into fail to provide round half of their potential output to stop overwhelming the UK’s power community.
In a single case, £7.7m was handed to the operator of a 23-turbine scheme, leaving the wind farm intentionally failing to provide 51 per cent of its potential output.
Elsewhere, SSE, the operator of the 33-turbine Strathy North wind farm within the Highlands, was paid £5.9m to keep away from producing 48 per cent of its capability.
REF argued the issue would proceed till “till there may be greater than adequate interconnection between Scotland and the centres of demand in England”.
The findings comply with Ofgem’s choice to hike the buyer worth 54 per cent – with households now dealing with common power payments of almost £2,000 per 12 months from April.
Dr Lee Moroney, REF’s precept analyst, mentioned: “When wind farms have been so poorly sited that they’re discarding as much as 50 per cent of their annual output, the general public has each proper to ask how on Earth these tasks got here to get planning permission.”
When approached by the Sunday Telegraph, a authorities spokesman mentioned: “Gasoline is dear and wind energy is reasonable, so we want extra renewables to guard customers. Constraint funds stay essentially the most environment friendly choice for Nationwide Grid to maintain Britain’s lights on, and are solely used when there may be extra provide.”
Scottish Renewables, a commerce physique, mentioned constraint funds added simply £1 per 12 months to the typical family electrical invoice.
On Friday, over 40 per cent of the day’s electrical energy provide was generated by generators – far larger than common – amid the robust winds introduced by Storm Eunice.
The output of offshore and onshore wind energy has rebounded following a dismal winter and sustained underperformance, which exacerbated the winter disaster.