Operators of wind turbines in Scotland were paid to switch their turbines off 37% of the time over the first half of the year, the Financial Times has reported, an amount equal to 4 TWh that were not produced due to lack of demand and infrastructure to bring the electricity to where there was demand.
The report noted that the amount curtailed from wind turbines in Scotland accounted for 86% of the total curtailment across Britain over the six months from January to June. It added that this represented a 15% increase on last year’s first-half curtailment.
Curtailment is the term used when grid operators ask wind and solar operators to turn off their installations to avoid overwhelming the grid since peak wind and solar generation periods do not usually coincide with periods of peak electricity demand. To avoid these companies going bankrupt, governments pay them to turn the turbines and the inverters off, which could—and does—cost billions.
In the financial year 2024/25, Britain’s National Energy System Operator had to pay a total of 2.7 billion pounds, or some $3.7 billion, in balancing costs. “Wind curtailment is currently a major driver of balancing costs,” NESO said in the report, adding that “This is because a large proportion of wind capacity in GB is connected in Scotland, which at present is a constrained region of the network.”
In the 2024/25 fiscal year, wind curtailment volumes increased to 13% of hypothetical wind outturn (wind outturn if no curtailment had taken place), NESO said earlier this year.
The problem is challenging because curtailment costs increase in tune with the growth in wind power generation capacity. To solve it, billions more would need to be spent on building new infrastructure to bring the electricity produced in the north to the consumption centers in the south.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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