3 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Northern Scotland wind farms get bulk of curtailment funds
The figure comes from a report on the curtailment of renewable generation facilities by energy market specialists at Montel Analytics.
The payments made under the curtailment system reflect the problems caused by the fact that wind farms were developed before the network capacity required to take all their output to centres of demand was available.
Montel said Britain suffered from a growing disconnect between renewable generation and grid infrastructure capacity.
The scale of the problem is most obvious in respect of northern Scotland following a surge in wind farm development off the area and onshore in recent years.
READ MORE: SNP Government renewables fixation absurd as wind farm switch off bill soars
The wind farms concerned are hundreds of miles from areas in England where demand is greatest.
'The region of northern Scotland has seen the most curtailed renewable energy volume in Great Britain by far,' said analysts at Montel.
They calculated that wind farms in Scotland generated around 37% less energy than they could have done in the first six months of this year as a result of curtailment.
Montel reckons the power concerned would have been sufficient to meet all Scottish domestic energy demand during the period.
The £116m paid in respect of northern Scotland represented 76% of the total £152m cost for Great Britain.
Senior Energy Market Analyst at Montel Fintan Devenney said the curtailment problem could intensify in coming years with the pace of the rollout of wind projects set to be maintained. Some 20 offshore wind projects won support in the ScotWind leasing round in 2022.
READ MORE: Scotland set for surge in wind farm developments amid Donald Trump opposition
Mr Devenney noted that if all these projects were completed Scottish wind generation capacity would increase more than threefold.
'If local flexibility and grid buildout were to remain at current levels, curtailment volumes and costs could rise by a similar order of magnitude,' said Mr Devenney.
Under the curtailment system the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has made payments to operators of gas-fired power stations to encourage them to produce power at times when wind farms have been paid to switch off.
READ MORE: Oil giant hails North Sea performance as it plans hefty job cuts
In June NESO revealed that the total cost of the payments it made to balance supply with demand increased to £2.7bn in the latest year from £2.5bn in the preceding period.
The costs added around £3 a month to household energy bills.
NESO said: 'Whilst payments to generators are distributed throughout the country the cause of cost is concentrated in Scotland.'
Montel's Mr Devenney cautioned: 'Unless policymakers pay attention to the need to marry renewable power with public systems and infrastructure, then an outdated transmission network could continue to drive up consumer bills.'
The report found around six times more output was constrained in respect of northern Scotland wind farms in the first six months of 2025 than in respect of facilities in southern Scotland.
