{"id":223451,"date":"2022-10-12T14:10:07","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T12:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=223451"},"modified":"2022-10-12T14:10:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T12:10:12","slug":"how-windfarms-charge-you-twice-for-the-same-electricity-net-zero-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=223451","title":{"rendered":"How windfarms charge you twice for the same electricity \u2013 Net Zero Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Moray East windfarm [image credit: offshorewind.biz]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out that \u2018when a windfarm is constrained off or constrained down, it doesn\u2019t actually have to switch off or switch down. It is free to divert power via a private wire to anyone who will pay for it.\u2019 Someone with a big battery, for example.<\/em>
\u2013 \u2013 \u2013
I recently noted that Moray East, a very large and very new windfarm situated off the Scottish coast, is spending a remarkable amount of time switched off \u2013 something like a quarter of the time, in fact, says Andrew Montford @ NZW<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As is widely known, windfarms can receive so-called constraint payments when the transmission grid doesn\u2019t have the capacity to deliver power from windfarms (typically in the north, and often far offshore) to markets (in the south), so Moray East receiving such payments was not a surprise; only the scale of the payments was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A constraint payment is worth around \u00a360 per megawatt hour, which is around the fixed price at which Moray East contracted to sell power to the grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as noted elsewhere, Moray East has failed to take up that contract, and it is therefore able to sell its output into the open market at \u00a3200, \u00a3300 or even \u00a3400 per megawatt hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve previously estimated that its costs appear to be somewhere north of \u00a3125 per megawatt hour, so it should be extremely profitable at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it still doesn\u2019t resolve the mystery of why investors went ahead and built the windfarm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their expectation of market prices would only have been something around \u00a350 \u2013 the level it has been at for many years. So their best case scenario for their earnings would have been subsidised price they agreed with the grid \u2013 \u00a357 at the time, although the annual uplift has now taken it up to \u00a370-odd. Either way, still far below their costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How were Moray East\u2019s developers hoping to make up the difference? The income had to come from somewhere. The revenue stream from selling power to customers appeared not to be the answer. Customers look after themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the amount of time Moray East is spending switched off got me thinking. The windfarm developers must have known that they would be constrained off a lot \u2013 they exhaustively analyse wind speeds, turbine design and the capacity of the grid to take their power. They must also know that the rate of payment for being constrained off was not that high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started to suspect that they had found a way to game the system to their advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My suspicions were soon confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continued\u00a0here<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

via Tallbloke’s Talkshop<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 12, 2022, by\u00a0oldbrew<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How windfarms charge you twice for the same electricity \u2013 Net Zero Watch | Tallbloke’s Talkshop (wordpress.com)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It turns out that \u2018when a windfarm is constrained off or constrained down, it doesn\u2019t actually have to switch off or switch down. It is free to divert power via a private wire to anyone who will pay for it.\u2019 Someone with a big battery, for example.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":223454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-223451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","9":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-549.png?fit=2048%2C1295&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-W83","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":223120,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=223120","url_meta":{"origin":223451,"position":0},"title":"How windfarms charge you twice for the same electricity","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"But is it actually happening?","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-460.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-460.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-460.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-460.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-460.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":253718,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=253718","url_meta":{"origin":223451,"position":1},"title":"For some, it\u2019s better not to work","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"20\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"But all the evidence suggests that we should expect more wear and tear. In which case the costs will be higher still.","rel":"","context":"In \"double-payment issue\"","block_context":{"text":"double-payment issue","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=double-payment-issue"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0windfarm-sunset-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C703&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0windfarm-sunset-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C703&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0windfarm-sunset-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C703&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0windfarm-sunset-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C703&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0windfarm-sunset-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C703&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":198310,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=198310","url_meta":{"origin":223451,"position":2},"title":"Money For Nothing","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/05\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Paul Homewood From Net Zero Watch: GB News are\u00a0currently reporting\u00a0that new capacity additions to the Contracts for Difference (CfD) subsidy scheme have dried up completely, as windfarms put back their CfD start dates, and sell into the open market instead. One of the windfarms that has decided to shun\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0image00001.jpeg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0image00001.jpeg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0image00001.jpeg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0image00001.jpeg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0image00001.jpeg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":238681,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=238681","url_meta":{"origin":223451,"position":3},"title":"Payments for windfarms to \u201cswitch off\u201d soar\u00a0to quarter billion\u00a0pounds","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"New analysis from Net Zero Watch has revealed that the cost of paying windfarms to \u201cswitch\u00a0off\u201d has soared, from \u00a3143 million in 2021 to \u00a3227 million in 2022, an increase of \u00a384 million, or 60%.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-373.png?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-373.png?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-373.png?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-373.png?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-373.png?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":360501,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=360501","url_meta":{"origin":223451,"position":4},"title":"Net Zero Watch condemns new windfarm\u00a0rip-off","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Campaign group Net Zero Watch has condemned the renewables industry rip-off of electricity consumers. 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