{"id":245914,"date":"2023-02-27T14:44:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T13:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245914"},"modified":"2023-02-27T14:44:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T13:44:35","slug":"britains-wind-industry-set-to-receive-even-more-taxpayers-money-for-producing-nothing-at-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245914","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s Wind Industry Set to Receive Even More Taxpayer\u2019s Money For Producing Nothing At All"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

From STOP THESE THINGS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

So-called wind power \u2018constraint payments\u2019 are more like a kidnapper\u2019s ransom, than a genuine commercial transaction. There aren\u2019t many exchanges that involve a producer claiming a fee for producing absolutely nothing, at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when your product is only available in random, chaotic spurts (or not at all), apparently the rules change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up to December 2019,\u00a0British wind power outfits had collected over \u00a3650,000,000<\/a>\u00a0for doing nothing at all; the cost to power consumers was almost \u00a31bn over the last five years and that figure is expected to soar to over \u00a3500m a year, or even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Wind farms backed by green subsidies could be paid more to switch off
<\/strong>The Telegraph
Emma Gatten
28 January 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind farms backed by government subsidies<\/a> could be paid more to switch off than to generate power, The Telegraph has learnt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At particularly windy times<\/a>, the National Grid pays producers to switch off rather than overload the local system, with the costs passed on to household energy bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producers offer the price at which they are willing to switch off, which is normally around the market rate for electricity, currently at record highs because of the energy crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind producers on newer government subsidy contracts<\/a> are paid a fixed price, generally below current market rates, to generate electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By switching off, producers may therefore be able to make rates well above their fixed prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the loophole only applies to about seven per cent of wind farmer producers on so-called \u201ccontracts for difference\u201d (CfD) \u2013 the newer subsidy system \u2013 the issue could grow as new wind farms come online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developers of the newest wind farms have offered to produce power\u00a0for a guaranteed price<\/a>\u00a0of as little as \u00a337 per megawatt-hour (MWh).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

That compares to wholesale electricity prices currently around \u00a3150\/MWh, which are expected to stay at record-high levels for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the National Grid forecast that levels of curtailment will grow fourfold in the next decade, from 3.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2022 to 15TWh in 2030, with costs forecast to reach \u00a32.5 billion a year<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, consumers paid \u00a3215 million to turn wind farms off, and \u00a3717 million to buy gas-powered electricity to make up the difference, according to figures from the UK Wind Curtailment Monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Telegraph revealed this week<\/a>\u00a0that wind farms could be paid to switch off even at times when the National Grid is paying households to turn off their gadgets\u00a0because of blackout fears<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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

However, Craig MacKinlay<\/a>, a Tory MP and chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, said: \u201cThe fact that hundreds of millions of pounds are being paid annually to wind farms not to generate, with these costs added to consumer bills, is a national scandal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr MacKinlay said the issue highlighted that \u201cthe intermittency of renewables with gas having to be used as the reliable balancer means wind companies are reaping the cream but doing nothing to help energy security\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cBEIS [Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy] lawyers who drafted these appalling contracts are responsible for billions of pounds of additional costs to consumers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe complexity of the energy system and its pricing is a direct result of distorting a functioning market on the altar of net zero<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A government spokesman said: \u201cThe Government is currently undertaking a review of electricity market arrangements. Curtailment payments are used by the National Grid ESO, as well as in other nations around the world, to safely manage electricity supply on a day-to-day basis.\u201d
The Telegraph<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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

What a \u2018safely\u2019 managed electricity supply looks like in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So-called wind power \u2018constraint payments\u2019 are more like a kidnapper\u2019s ransom, than a genuine commercial transaction. There aren\u2019t many exchanges that involve a producer claiming a fee for producing absolutely nothing, at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":245924,"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-245914","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\/2023\/02\/image-900.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-11Ym","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":226703,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=226703","url_meta":{"origin":245914,"position":0},"title":"British Taxpayers Paying Wind Power Outfits \u00a3500,000,000 Every Year to Produce NOTHING!","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Perversely, energy suppliers are paid more for that than for producing energy. As offshore wind comes on stream, the great energy switch off will only increase. The cost to the public purse will soon become billions.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image.png?fit=1196%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image.png?fit=1196%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image.png?fit=1196%2C662&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image.png?fit=1196%2C662&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image.png?fit=1196%2C662&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":232633,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=232633","url_meta":{"origin":245914,"position":1},"title":"UK\u2019s Power Consumers Pay Staggering Price For Wind Power That\u2019s Never Delivered","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Obscene is one way to describe the wind power debacle playing out in Britain; power prices are punitive, in calm weather power rationing is normal. 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This is certainly an important question, and one that you might have hoped would no longer be the subject of speculation now that we are twenty years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Net zero\"","block_context":{"text":"Net zero","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=net-zero"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0NZW_curtailed2.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0NZW_curtailed2.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0NZW_curtailed2.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0NZW_curtailed2.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0NZW_curtailed2.png?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=245914"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245926,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245914\/revisions\/245926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/245924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=245914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=245914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=245914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}