MORE than £100 million has been added to UK customers’ energy bills since Labour came to power to pay Scottish wind farms to stop producing power, according to new analysis.
Between Keir Starmer taking office on July 5 and October 8 (the most recent date for which there was data before this story was filed), a total of £104,170,855 was paid to shut down wind farms across the UK, according to figures from the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF).
The overwhelming majority of this total – a massive £100,393,530 – has been paid to wind farms in Scotland. Over the same period, just £3,627,847 was paid to stop energy production on English wind farms, and just £149,482 was paid to generators in Wales.
More than £21 million was spent shutting wind farms down on just three days: £7,922,538 on September 10; £6,779,583 on August 22, and £6,465,620 on September 14. This money ultimately added to people’s energy bills.
The fact that generators are paid to reduce output highlights two key issues with the UK’s energy infrastructure - power cannot be sufficiently moved from where it is generated to where it is needed, and surplus renewable generation cannot yet be significantly stored.
The 10 wind farms paid the highest constraint costs in 2024 (from January 1 to October 8):
- Moray East Offshore: £58,876,082
- Seagreen: £51,550,175
- Stronelairg: £14,692,367
- Dorenell: £12,855,499
- Bhlaraidh: £6,783,277
- Aikengall: £5,476,904
- Clyde: £4,305,240
- Viking: £4,139,209
- Hornsea: £4,114,529
- Griffin: £3,961,005
REF’s Dr Lee Moroney said that wind farm operators were charging energy bill payers more to shut down than they would have earned from selling power – and said Labour could “demonstrate their commitment to lower energy bills by immediately preventing this profiteering”.
“For a long time, REF has highlighted the iniquity of bill payers being charged to pay wind farms built in remote areas not to run,” Moroney told the Sunday National. “Since July 5, these constraint payments have exceeded £104m.
“What is more incomprehensible is that wind farm operators routinely charge the consumer more for reducing output than they would have received if generating normally. Since July 5, we estimate this overcharging exceeds £58m.”
Elsewhere, the REF figures show that between July 5 and October 8, a total of 2,060,601 megawatt-hours (MWh) of wind power was constrained.
According to Ofgem, a typical British household uses approximately 2700 kWh of electricity annually. Based on this estimate, the curtailed energy could have supplied around 763,000 average homes with electricity for an entire year.
SNP MP Dave Doogan, his party’s energy spokesperson at Westminster, said the figures highlighted “plain and simple” failures.
“You couldn’t make this up yet it comes at colossal additional costs to billpayers.”
Doogan added: “We mustn’t forget either that just because the wind generators switch off to protect the grid from damage, the energy they were producing is still required across the network.
“So where does it come from in this scenario? The answer sadly is the energy of last resort - gas, the most expensive and highest carbon electricity generating method left.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “For the efficient and affordable renewable energy system we need, more than just energy generation is required; we also need investment in transmission capacity, plenty of modern energy storage, and the ability to import and export clean power between countries to balance supply and demand.
“Scotland is well placed to continue its leadership in building out this system, which will make constraint payments unnecessary. However, we need Scotland’s priorities to be reflected in decisions about infrastructure and regulation, which are currently made at UK level.”
On Thursday, the UK Government announced a “long-duration electricity storage investment support scheme” to encourage investment in projects with low operating fees but high up-front costs.
The aim is to reverse “a legacy that has seen no new long-duration storage built for 40 years”, according to Energy Minister Michael Shanks.
Speaking at Westminster in September, Prime Minister Starmer said of wind farm constraint payments: "It’s a problem that wasn’t fixed over the last 14 years, but a problem that we are determined to fix as we go forward."
A spokesperson for the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “Clean power by 2030 is essential in guaranteeing our energy independence and protecting billpayers.
“We recently achieved a record-setting round of renewables projects, with enough power for 11 million homes – essential to give energy security to families across the country.
“We will work with industry to rewire Britain, upgrade our outdated infrastructure, and reduce constraint payments."
