Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm wasted three-quarters of the power it produced final 12 months after being paid to modify off its generators. [some emphasis, links added]
The Seagreen wind farm off Scotland’s east coast is squandering huge quantities of its energy as a result of there’s not sufficient grid capability to move it to areas of the nation the place it’s wanted most.
This incapability to deal with surplus electrical energy led to 77pc of Seagreen’s complete output going to waste final 12 months, new accounts present, from a complete of 114 generators.
That is more likely to have sparked lots of of hundreds of thousands of kilos in so-called constraint funds for the wind farm, which is run by Scottish power large SSE and France’s TotalEnergies.
These funds are made beneath a authorities scheme to encourage renewables, geared toward guaranteeing money for inexperienced energy even when it can’t be used.
SSE, which is the lead companion within the Seagreen wind farm, refused to reveal how a lot it was paid for switching off the generators.
Nevertheless, estimates from the Renewable Vitality Basis counsel it may quantity to greater than £200m for the 12 months.
Constraint funds regarding wasted wind are added to shopper and enterprise power payments within the type of community fees.
General, they totalled round £1.7bn final 12 months and are set to succeed in £8bn by 2030.
Claire Coutinho, the shadow power secretary, blamed Ed Miliband, the Vitality Secretary, for overseeing a system that’s turning into unaffordable.
“What different sector can we pay individuals to not produce something? We’re spending £1bn switching wind farms off at present, however because of Ed Miliband’s mad sprint for renewables, we’ll be spending £8bn by 2030,” she mentioned.
“We merely can not afford an method that makes our power system greater price and fewer productive. Low-cost, dependable power should come first.”
Seagreen grew to become operational in October 2022 with 114 generators having a theoretical capability of 1 gigawatt, though fluctuating wind energy means efficient capability is lower than half this determine.
Learn relaxation at The Telegraph
