Wind farm investigated after ‘charging households £100m to switch off turbines'

Telegraph

17-04-2025

One of Britain's largest wind farms is facing an investigation into claims it overcharged customers to switch off its turbines.
Regulator Ofgem has launched an inquiry into the owner of Moray East, a wind farm with 100 turbines off Scotland's east coast.
Concerns have been raised over Ocean Winds potentially over-claiming cash from bill-payers in the form of so-called constraint payments.
These are made when wind farms such as Moray East are told to switch off because the UK's creaking transmission grid cannot transport the excess power produced.
The payments, which are added to consumer bills, are meant to compensate solely for lost income.
However, Ofgem is investigating claims that Ocean Winds over-claimed millions of pounds on behalf of Moray East.
The investigation comes after the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), a charity, previously alleged widespread overcharging by wind farm operators.
It passed on its findings to Ofgem, including calculations that Moray East was paid £100m in the two years to September 2023.
After announcing the investigation, the watchdog said: 'There is a [general] risk that generators could exploit their position by charging Neso excessive prices to reduce their output.
'Since it began operating in the balancing mechanism in September 2021, Moray East Offshore Windfarm has been regularly instructed by Neso to reduce its generation to manage transmission constraints.
'Its prices since then appear expensive relative to the expected cost of reducing generation. Our investigation will assess whether these prices were excessive during periods of constraint.'
Moray East was developed by Spain-based Ocean Winds, with its investors including Japan's Mitsubishi Capital and Kansai Electric Power.
Ocean Winds is also the lead company in the adjacent massive Moray West wind farm. This is due to be operational next year and will generate electricity to power Amazon and Google's UK operations.
Meanwhile, the investigation has been confirmed after The Telegraph revealed last month that Britain is paying almost £180,000 an hour to switch off wind farms because there are insufficient cables to carry the excess power generated on windy days.
The payments amount to £4.3m per day, money which ultimately comes from energy bills.
John Constable, of REF, said overcharging for constraint payments was common across the wind industry and Ofgem should expand its investigation.
He said: 'We estimate that, in the two years to 30 September 2023, Moray East was paid approximately £100m for constraining output.
'While Ofgem is to be commended for starting an investigation into Moray East offshore wind farm, it is disturbing that it has taken nearly two years for an investigation into this single wind farm to commence.
'Our data suggests that almost all of the 123 wind farms which have received constraint payments have been overcharging the consumer and that Ofgem needs to develop a more serious strategy for reclaiming these payments and returning them to the consumer very much more promptly.'