Britons face record bill as wind farms perform poorly again – Net Zero Watch

The higher the dependence on renewables, the worse problems such as ‘the vagaries of wind speed’ become.
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London, 25 November – The daily cost of balancing the electricity grid rocketed to £63 million yesterday, smashing the old record of £45 million, set just three weeks ago, reports Net Zero Watch.

Wind farms were performing poorly yet again, delivering only 20% of their theoretical capacity.

The Balancing Mechanism, which ensures that supply and demand are in balance hour by hour, was forced to pay up to £4000/MWh to get the coal-fired Drax 5 unit to switch on, at the same time as paying wind farms to switch off.

Net Zero Watch’s Dr Benny Peiser said:

The tens of millions that the grid is having to throw at the growing problem of unreliable renewables on days like yesterday are astonishing. £1 million to wind farms to switch off. £5 million to get a single coal-fired unit at Drax to switch on. This is unsustainable.”

The annual cost of the so-called Balancing Mechanism has quintupled in just three years, reaching £1.8 billion in 2020/21 driven primarily by the vagaries of wind speed.

But Dr Peiser warns that figure that is likely to be comfortably surpassed in the current year.

Full report here.