Wind turbines paid almost £1M to power down

Wind turbines were paid almost £1M to power down during a storm last month, according to figure obtained by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF).


REF said this week the National Grid paid £900,000 to stop turbines because they were generating ‘too much’ power in windy conditions during April this year.

Payments totalling £900,000, including one of £300,000, were made to six Scottish wind farms to stop them producing electricity during the bad weather between April 5 and 6.

Research by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) estimates the payments are 20 times the value of the electricity that would have been generated if the farms had kept running.

The claims, confirmed by the National Gird, were due to an ‘exceptional’ set of circumstances and was only the second time the grid had taken the action.

Due to the weather energy output from hydropower was also up and the gird decided stopping win was the best solution.

A spokesman said: “Reducing the output from the wind generators was the most cost effective way to balance out the electricity that was being generated with what was being consumed. ”

Luke Walsh

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