Latest news with #windfarms
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Bill for switching off wind farms hits £500m
Payments related to switching off wind farms in 2025 so far are equivalent to £3.3m a day – or £136,000 per hour. A row is growing in the energy industry over how to tackle the issue, with the Government currently looking at options to reform the market. One idea being considered is a break-up of the existing national market into different regions, or zones, that would see each part of the country pay a different price for electricity based on local supply and demand. This would mean the amount paid to wind farms in Scotland when there is too much power being generated would fall dramatically. It would also probably result in higher energy prices for households in London, southern England and the Midlands, given that these are areas where renewables are in short supply. Wind farms that were curtailed on Tuesday included the Seagreen offshore wind farm in the North Sea – the largest of its kind in Scotland – which was switched off for nearly three quarters of the time it was meant to operate last year. Investment fears Wind farm developers Scottish Power and SSE have argued that reforming the market will make it far harder to predict future revenues and could create huge uncertainty – potentially holding up major investment decisions on new schemes. This would also put the Government at risk of missing its 2030 clean power target, which requires huge amounts of generation capacity to be installed in the next five years. On Wednesday, a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: 'The National Energy System Operator's independent report shows we can achieve clean power by 2030 with cheaper electricity, even factoring in constraint payments. 'Through our clean power action plan, we will work with industry to rewire Britain, upgrade our outdated infrastructure to get renewable electricity on the grid and minimise constraint payments.' A spokesman for Neso, which manages the electricity grid, said: 'Neso takes its role to deliver a safe, secure and reliable national electricity network at least cost to consumers, extremely seriously. 'We are constantly looking for new ways to reduce costs associated with balancing electricity supply and demand on a second-by-second basis, as these costs are passed on to consumers in their electricity bill.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
MoD plots £1.5bn radar upgrade as wind farms threaten to conceal attacks
Military chiefs are planning a £1.5bn upgrade of Britain's radar defences amid fears that the growing number of wind farms risks leaving the country blind to attacks. Under the Ministry of Defence's 'Njord' programme, named after the Norse god of sea and wind, seven air defence radar stations around the country will be replaced or improved to ensure they are not confused by interference from turbines. There are already 3,352 operational or under-construction wind turbines in UK waters, according to the Crown Estate, with another 1,000 at least set to be deployed by 2030 to meet the Government's net zero targets. Without measures to tackle the problem, military chiefs fear the interference will impede the ability of the Royal Air Force to detect enemy missiles and aircraft. Each radar station upgrade will be worth up to £210m and the Ministry of Defence opened the bidding process earlier this year, with several unnamed defence companies in the running. An industry source said: 'They are concerned that, without mitigation, you are going to see a deterioration of radar coverage if you build all the wind farms envisaged under the 2030 targets. 'That would potentially reduce the time you have to respond to threats, as well as the probability of detecting them, and so would leave the country more vulnerable to attacks.' The interference problem occurs when turbine blades reflect the electromagnetic pulses pinged out by radar stations, generating unhelpful background noise for the system operators. Each blade on a turbine can generate a false return, creating the potential for massive disruption from some sites. The first two phases of Dogger Bank, the UK's biggest wind farm, boast 190 turbines alone. But the Ministry of Defence has warned that every wind farm that is built 'will have a unique, detrimental impact' on its ability to detect threats such as missiles or hostile aircraft, 'as they reduce the volume of air space that the radars can effectively survey'. As a result, military officials have been studying options to fix the problem. This could include attempting to mask the turbines by putting radar-absorbing paint on them – similar to the kind used by stealth aircraft such as the F-35 – or through computer software fixes that scrub phoney signals out of readings automatically. Other companies have suggested turning the wind turbines themselves into assets, rather than liabilities, by fixing an array of sensors to them such as cameras, microphones and radio aerials that could detect the presence of enemy threats. Under the upgrade plans, work on the first four sites – Neatishead in Norfolk, Staxton Wold in North Yorkshire, Brizlee Wood in Northumberland and Buchan in Aberdeenshire – would begin in July 2026, according to transparency documents. Work is expected to start on the other three – Saxa Vord in the Shetlands, Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides and Portreath in Cornwall – in October 2027. The contracts are expected to last for 120 weeks. An MoD spokesman said: 'As we build the next generation of large-scale offshore windfarms, we are looking at innovative ways to mitigate any impact on the UK's air defence capability.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
MoD plots £1.5bn radar upgrade as wind farms threaten to conceal attacks
Military chiefs are planning a £1.5bn upgrade of Britain's radar defences amid fears that the growing number of wind farms risks leaving the country blind to attacks. Under the Ministry of Defence's 'Njord' programme, named after the Norse god of sea and wind, seven air defence radar stations around the country will be replaced or improved to ensure they are not confused by interference from turbines. There are already 3,352 operational or under-construction wind turbines in UK waters, according to the Crown Estate, with another 1,000 at least set to be deployed by 2030 to meet the Government's net zero targets. Without measures to tackle the problem, military chiefs fear the interference will impede the ability of the Royal Air Force to detect enemy missiles and aircraft. Each radar station upgrade will be worth up to £210m and the Ministry of Defence opened the bidding process earlier this year, with several unnamed defence companies in the running. An industry source said: 'They are concerned that, without mitigation, you are going to see a deterioration of radar coverage if you build all the wind farms envisaged under the 2030 targets. 'That would potentially reduce the time you have to respond to threats, as well as the probability of detecting them, and so would leave the country more vulnerable to attacks.' 'A unique and detrimental impact' The interference problem occurs when turbine blades reflect the electromagnetic pulses pinged out by radar stations, generating unhelpful background noise for the system operators. Each blade on a turbine can generate a false return, creating the potential for massive disruption from some sites.
Reuters
26-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Italy's Enel to raise US green energy capacity with wind farms swap
MILAN, May 26 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest utility Enel ( opens new tab has signed a swap deal with U.S. Gulf Pacific Power covering some wind farm assets which will boost its net consolidated green capacity in the United States by 285 megawatts, it said on Monday. The deal is part of Enel's strategy to up its generation capacity from renewable sources also through the acquisition of so-called 'brownfield' assets, which are projects already in operation. Enel's total net installed consolidated green capacity in the United States amounted to 11,620 MW in the first quarter of 2025. Enel, through its subsidiary Enel Green Power North America, will pay GPP about $50 million, subject to an adjustment mechanism. It did not specify the assets that will be included in the agreement. The deal, when completed, will boost the group's ordinary earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by approximately $50 million. The transaction will increase its net financial debt by about $20 million.
Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Galloway national park ‘would cost jobs by blocking wind farms'
A new national park in Galloway would deprive the region of more than £540 million of economic output and hundreds of renewable energy jobs over the next decade, economists have warned. A report by Biggar Economics on behalf of the renewables sector suggested there would be a reduction in the amount of onshore wind farms in the area, as planning permission would be likely to become much more difficult, hampering efforts to develop new sites and upgrade existing ones. According to the research, Scotland's existing national planning framework states that proposals for wind farms in national parks will not be supported unless any adverse impacts are clearly outweighed by social, environmental and economic benefits. Galloway was selected for a new national park in July last
