By Paul Homewood
h/t Philip Bratby
British households face costs of up to £3bn a year to pay windfarms and other electricity producers to stop generating when there is too much wind.
The Telegraph report:
British households face costs of up to £3bn a year to pay windfarms and other electricity producers to stop generating, according to the country’s grid operator.
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) has warned of the looming bill as the power grid struggles to keep pace with the expansion of renewables.
This means that when the wind blows more strongly, the power generated can overwhelm transmission lines and force Neso to intervene.
To ease pressures, Neso hands wind farm operators “constraint payments” to stop generating, which are aimed at compensating for lost revenue.
Such payments already hit £1bn last year, although a report from Neso has warned that this bill is poised to rise to £3bn by 2030.
Other industry experts fear that the real cost could end up much higher.
Octopus Energy, the nation’s leading power supplier, estimates that by 2030 constraint payments could be adding £6bn a year to consumer bills – roughly equating to £200 a household.
NESO’s assessment is based on these calculations, included in their Clean Power 2030 report:
https://www.neso.energy/publications/clean-power-2030
The cost of curtailment and exporting surplus power at a loss add up to £10/MWh, which based on their anticipated generation of 354 TWh in 2030 gives a total cost of £3.5 billion. (NESO’s Workbook gives cost of £3.68 billion).
Note that this figure is on top of the costs in 2023, which were already significant.
But as Octopus say, the real cost could end up being much greater.
According to NESO, in their 2030 projection, 22 TWh of surplus power will ne paid to switch off, but another 61 TWh will, they say, be exported at a price of £40.MWh. (Total wind generation will be 245 TWh, meaning a third of this is surplus to requirements).
If there is no demand abroad for this power, then this will also have to be constrained off, thus losing the potential export income of £2.4 billion.
According to the Telegraph, DESNZ argue that cheaper generation costs will more than offset constraint payments.
However this is a falsehood, based on NESO’s claim that generation costs will fall by £15/MWh. But this saving is not real, it is sleight of hand.
As NESO themselves explain, their “cost of gas power” includes a spurious carbon tax of £60/MWh:
According to NESO’s Workbook, this tax is adding £19/MWh to overall electricity wholesale costs.
In reality, Miliband’s expansion of renewables will increase generation costs, not decrease them.
Add that increase to the other extra costs tabled by NESO, ie constraint, storage and grid upgrades, and we are looking at a total increase of around £30/MWh. This equates to about £10 billion a year.
Finally it is disappointing that previously reliable experts, Cornwall Insight, have also fallen for this con trick played on us by NESO and DESNZ, if the Telegraph article is accurate.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
January 26, 2025 at 04:51AM
