{"id":353217,"date":"2024-12-04T11:05:16","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T10:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=353217"},"modified":"2024-12-04T11:05:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T10:05:18","slug":"cost-of-switching-off-uk-wind-farms-soars-to-absurd-1bn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=353217","title":{"rendered":"Cost of switching off UK wind farms soars to \u2018absurd\u2019 \u00a31bn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

h\/t Paul Kolk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

British bill payers have spent an \u201cabsurd\u201d \u00a31bn to <\/em>temporarily switch off wind turbines<\/em><\/a> so far this year as the grid struggles to cope with their power.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amount of wind power \u201ccurtailed\u201d in the first 11 months of 2024 stood at about 6.6 terawatt hours (TWh), according to official figures, up from 3.8 TWh in the whole of last year.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curtailment is where wind turbines are paid to switch off at times of high winds to stop a surge in power overwhelming the grid. Households and businesses pay for the cost of this policy through their bills.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost of switching off has reached about \u00a31bn so far this year, according to analysis of market data by Octopus Energy which was first reported by Bloomberg. This is more than the \u00a3779m spent last year and \u00a3945m spent in 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jump in curtailment follows the opening of more wind farms at a time when the country still lacks the infrastructure needed to transport all the electricity they generate at busy times.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/business\/2024\/12\/02\/britain-paying-wind-farms-record-1bn-to-switch-off<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real problem currently is the lack of transmission capacity between Scotland and the South, where demand is. But that is ignoring the real issue, which is that we should never have built wind farms in remote places where there is no demand in the first place. And the cost of new transmission capacity should have been built into the business case before construction went ahead. If that had been done, wind farms in such places would never have been viable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grid of course are now planning to spend over \u00a3100 million on upgrading the transmission network, but the real problem going forward is that there will huge amounts of surplus wind power once Miliband has quadrupled wind power capacity. As the Telegraph notes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the National Energy System Operator (Neso), curtailment costs are on course to surge to \u00a36bn by 2030 if the status quo continues<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

British bill payers have spent an \u201cabsurd\u201d \u00a31bn to\u00a0temporarily switch off wind turbines\u00a0so far this year as the grid struggles to cope with their power.<\/p>\n

The amount of wind power \u201ccurtailed\u201d in the first 11 months of 2024 stood at about 6.6 terawatt hours (TWh), according to official figures, up from 3.8 TWh in the whole of last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":353221,"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_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691831818,691823573,691831819,691831817],"class_list":{"0":"post-353217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-british-bill-payers","9":"tag-the-grid","10":"tag-transmission-capacity","11":"tag-uk-wind-farms","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0YAYMFVFJU4W0MJ00I1L8.jpg?fit=1657%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1tT3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":226703,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=226703","url_meta":{"origin":353217,"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":353088,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=353088","url_meta":{"origin":353217,"position":1},"title":"Cost of Switching Off U.K. Wind Farms on Windy Days Hits \u201cAbsurd\u201d \u00a31 Billion","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"British energy bill payers have spent an \u201cabsurd\u201d \u00a31 billion to temporarily switch off wind turbines so far this year because the grid struggles to cope with their power on windy days.","rel":"","context":"In \"green subsidies\"","block_context":{"text":"green subsidies","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=green-subsidies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0Screenshot-2024-12-02-184429.png?fit=1200%2C747&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0Screenshot-2024-12-02-184429.png?fit=1200%2C747&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0Screenshot-2024-12-02-184429.png?fit=1200%2C747&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0Screenshot-2024-12-02-184429.png?fit=1200%2C747&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0Screenshot-2024-12-02-184429.png?fit=1200%2C747&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":245914,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245914","url_meta":{"origin":353217,"position":2},"title":"Britain\u2019s Wind Industry Set to Receive Even More Taxpayer\u2019s Money For Producing Nothing At All","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/02\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-900.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-900.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-900.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-900.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-900.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":363597,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=363597","url_meta":{"origin":353217,"position":3},"title":"Constraint Payments Could Hit \u00a36 Billion In\u00a02030","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"British households face costs of up to \u00a33bn a year to pay windfarms and other electricity producers to stop generating when there is too much wind.","rel":"","context":"In \"Clean Power 2030\"","block_context":{"text":"Clean Power 2030","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=clean-power-2030"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0The-Dark-Knight-Joker-Burning-Money-Pile.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0The-Dark-Knight-Joker-Burning-Money-Pile.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0The-Dark-Knight-Joker-Burning-Money-Pile.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0The-Dark-Knight-Joker-Burning-Money-Pile.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0The-Dark-Knight-Joker-Burning-Money-Pile.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":423011,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423011","url_meta":{"origin":353217,"position":4},"title":"Constraint Payments Soar to New\u00a0Record","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/01\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The cost is actually overstated, because we would still need to pay for one lot of electricity anyway. As the Telegraph states, this is essentially a Scottish problem, as there is not enough transmission capacity to carry all the wind power south when it is windy. But naively, they then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"energy industry\"","block_context":{"text":"energy industry","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=energy-industry"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQOFfL8eccltC4ORAKL_tOPoAZVJFLBG9X2vBhnxk8FjjgqbVLvdbkBCXgdKtsMZSbSrJSV8s8TJFsFF9acicXV5E-zWXlYtBryVNcf50BMBMmbO2riNAmEkkeKtgpOhDBLkSkXKcIPAad1nILv57ScDL-M-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQOFfL8eccltC4ORAKL_tOPoAZVJFLBG9X2vBhnxk8FjjgqbVLvdbkBCXgdKtsMZSbSrJSV8s8TJFsFF9acicXV5E-zWXlYtBryVNcf50BMBMmbO2riNAmEkkeKtgpOhDBLkSkXKcIPAad1nILv57ScDL-M-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQOFfL8eccltC4ORAKL_tOPoAZVJFLBG9X2vBhnxk8FjjgqbVLvdbkBCXgdKtsMZSbSrJSV8s8TJFsFF9acicXV5E-zWXlYtBryVNcf50BMBMmbO2riNAmEkkeKtgpOhDBLkSkXKcIPAad1nILv57ScDL-M-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQOFfL8eccltC4ORAKL_tOPoAZVJFLBG9X2vBhnxk8FjjgqbVLvdbkBCXgdKtsMZSbSrJSV8s8TJFsFF9acicXV5E-zWXlYtBryVNcf50BMBMmbO2riNAmEkkeKtgpOhDBLkSkXKcIPAad1nILv57ScDL-M-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQOFfL8eccltC4ORAKL_tOPoAZVJFLBG9X2vBhnxk8FjjgqbVLvdbkBCXgdKtsMZSbSrJSV8s8TJFsFF9acicXV5E-zWXlYtBryVNcf50BMBMmbO2riNAmEkkeKtgpOhDBLkSkXKcIPAad1nILv57ScDL-M-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":244415,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=244415","url_meta":{"origin":353217,"position":5},"title":"Sky Fall For The Battery Con Trick","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/02\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The claims are absurd and this battery park will make next to no difference to how the grid operates, but will earn plenty of money paid out of our energy bills.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-465.png?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-465.png?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-465.png?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-465.png?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-465.png?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353217","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=353217"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353223,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353217\/revisions\/353223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/353221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=353217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=353217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=353217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}