Glut of wind farm power adds nearly £1bn to household energy bills
Curtailment figures mean that consumers are getting handed significant sums
JONATHAN LEAKE
A glut of power from Britain’s wind farms has added nearly £1bn to energy bills, new figures show.
Wind operators were forced to curtail output from their machinery by 28pc in the first half of the year, according to Montel, leading to compensation payouts of £900m.
This compensation is paid to wind farm operators for the unsold power and the money is funded by consumers and businesses through higher bills.
It means six terawatt hours of power was wasted from January to June – roughly the collective consumption of every UK data centre.
The curtailment figures show the UK’s decision to build dozens of giant wind farms in remote areas with inadequate grid connections is costing consumers dearly.
The lack of such connections means wind operators can demand compensation from the National Energy System Operator (Neso) for their unsold power.
Last year the compensation paid to operators, plus the cost of replacing the lost power with gas-fired generation, cost £1.5bn. By June this year it had already surged to around £900m, according to the Wasted Wind website, which monitors curtailment costs.
Fintan Denny, a Montel analyst, said: “The amount of power being turned down has increased every year since 2022. The majority of the volume is attributable to wind farms in Scotland.
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Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, said: “We are already spending £1.5bn a year on wind farms, not to generate energy but to turn them off when it’s too windy. These balancing payments are set to rise by up to £10bn by 2030.
“All of that gets passed on to consumer and business bills. Labour need to stop their mad dash for renewables, and prioritise cheap, reliable energy.”
The growth of such payments is also concerning suppliers who have to collect the money from customers. Domestic customer debts have risen from £1.4bn four years ago to around £6bn now and are predicted to hit £7bn next year.
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(UKR)