Great Britain is focusing on wind energy and is rapidly building new offshore wind farms. The growing power of offshore wind turbines and windy weather should have resulted in a huge increase in wind energy production in 2024. However, nothing like this happened, because the grid is unable to absorb the gigantic surplus power. And this costs money because operators are forced to pay wind farms for shutdowns, which are ultimately passed on to consumers. This is a situation that threatens plans to decarbonize the network by 2030 and prevents the reduction of electricity bills.
Great Britain is investing in windmills
Crucial to the goal of net zero emissions on the grid is the massive development of renewable energy, in particular wind. Over the last five years, the UK has increased its fleet of offshore wind farms by 50%. and is expected to double it over the next five years, BloombergNEF data shows.
Unfortunately, the British electricity grid did not expand at the same pace as wind farm capacity. The result of this disproportion is the exclusion of wind farms. Operators are being forced to pay wind farms, particularly those in Scotland, to keep them from operating. This year for “congestion costs”, i.e. shutting down power plants that cannot supply electricity due to network constraints, and for starting others that are closer to demand centers, Britain spent more than £1 billion ($1.3 billion).
Scottish bottleneck
Last month, as Storm Bert blew through the UK, some of its newest and largest wind parks were operational, providing clean energy to users. Meanwhile The Scottish Seagreen project, owned by SSE Plc and TotalEnergies SE, has been deactivated. SSE’s Viking project in Shetland was also closed. This situation best shows how important the expansion of the network is for the future of British wind energy. This is especially true as the utility company intends to build an even larger wind farm off the coast of Scotland, which could further deepen the bottleneck if the network is not expanded.
Wind farm exclusions / Bloomberg
In a statement, the company said operators must use Scottish renewables to meet the UK’s energy security targets. And for this purpose transmission infrastructure is key.
Wind versus gas
“The outdated rules of our energy system mean that huge amounts of cheap green energy are wasted” Clem Cowton, director at Octopus Energy Group, told Bloomberg. “It’s absurd that the UK pays Scottish wind farms to switch off when it’s windy, while paying gas-fired power stations in the south to switch on“- he added.
The growing capacity of wind energy combined with the lack of grid modernization means that curtailing generation is becoming more and more common. This year’s congestion costs exceed last year’s total costs and are second only to those in 2022, when energy prices were almost three times higher.
