Monday 22 May 2023

UK wind farms forced to power down, resulting in millions lost

British energy bills were burdened with an additional £500 million in 2021 as the National Grid incurred fees to compensate wind farms for shutting down.

This amount represents a notable increase from the £299 million spent in 2020 due to the lack of infrastructure to distribute the generated renewable energy to its intended destinations.

According to official figures, wind farms across the UK received a total of £806 million in "curtailment costs" during the years 2020 and 2021, with a significant 82% of that sum paid to generators situated in Scotland.

In response to this escalating issue, First Minister Humza Yousaf has taken action by writing a letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, urgently calling for increased support and investment in long duration energy storage technologies, with a particular emphasis on pumped hydro storage energy.

Yousaf proposes the implementation of a market mechanism as a viable solution to address the pressing challenges faced by the UK's energy sector.