Jesper Starn, Bloomberg News

STOCKHOLM
EnergiesNet.com 06 09 2022

The cost of turning off UK wind turbines jumped to a record last year because the country’s storage capacity can’t keep up with the growth in renewables output.

Enough renewable power to supply 800,000 homes was wasted in 2020 and 2021 as wind farms were forced to stop to ensure the stability of the grid, a report commissioned by Drax Group Plc shows. The cost of turning off turbines climbed about 70% to £507 ($635 million) last year alone, contributing to higher emissions and energy bills for consumers.

The wasted output highlights the difficulty the country faces in reaching its green goals with a network that’s still unable to store large amounts of electricity. Saving this cheap power to be used later or using it to produce green hydrogen will be the challenge for the government as it aims to expand offshore wind capacity to 50 gigawatts by the end of the decade.

“Increasing the output from wind power is essential for the UK to achieve its climate targets and ensure energy security,” said Chris Matson of Lane Clark & Peacock, which carried out the report for Drax. “And yet because investment in the infrastructure needed to support this expansion has not kept pace, wind curtailment is costing the consumer and the environment.”

Read More: Record Wind in Scotland Means Grid Tells Some Turbines to Stop

Paying turbines to switch off is a normal part of balancing the grid when there’s more wind being produced than it can take. The charges are paid for via consumer bills, further squeezing budgets of households facing a cost-of-living crisis.

Drax is calling for a new regulatory framework to support more private investment into long-duration storage to enable surplus wind power to be held and then used when needed, such as when there’s a shortage of renewable output. That would not only reduce waste, but also cut emissions from plants using fossil fuels to currently fill the gap.

bloomberg.com 05 08 2022