UK spends over £1.5 billion this year paying wind farms to curtail output and gas plants to run
Britain has already exceeded £1.5 billion in payments to shut down wind farms and start up gas generators, a cost that will be passed on to consumers.
Octopus Energy reports that the United Kingdom has spent over £1.5 billion this year compensating wind farms for curtailment and paying gas-fired stations to generate electricity, overtaking last year’s £1.47 billion total with a quarter of the year still to go. A single September day saw the cost exceed £1 million each hour, and the month’s total constraint payments reached £404.3 million, including seven of the costliest days since the company’s Wasted Wind tracker began in 2018.
The expenses arise because the ageing grid cannot accommodate power from remote wind farms, necessitating the activation of costly, nearer gas plants. These charges are ultimately reflected in consumer energy bills. Octopus’s founder Greg Jackson criticised one outlet wholesale pricing system and advocated for zonal pricing, which he says could cut household bills by up to £114 annually. The government has rejected zonal pricing but is pursuing grid upgrades through the Great British Grid programme.
Why it matters
The soaring costs of renewable curtailment raise household energy bills and highlight the need for grid modernization.
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