Grid balancing costs hit £47.9m in a day as wind power was curtailed
Great Britain’s grid operator paid £47.9m on Wednesday to balance electricity supply, switching off windfarms where power was plentiful and bringing on gas plants where it was needed. The costs, passed on to household bills, highlight how transmission bottlenecks are making it harder to use renewable power and may add pressure to energy costs.
Around 9 gigawatts of wind and hydro capacity were paid not to generate, enough to power more than 8 million typical households. Balancing costs reached a record £505m in September and are forecast to total £3.2bn over the next year; the grid operator also bought power from Europe. The article links the problem to a £150bn networks upgrade that is not keeping pace with new renewable projects, with Scottish wind often curtailed because cables cannot carry enough electricity south.
- Grid balancing cost £47.9m on Wednesday.
- About 9GW of wind and hydro power was switched off.
- September’s balancing costs hit a record £505m.
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Great Britain’s electricity grid must keep supply and demand in balance at all times. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) manages this by paying generators to reduce or increase output when electricity cannot be delivered where it is needed.
Wind farms in Scotland can produce more electricity than the transmission cables can carry south, while gas plants or imported power may be used elsewhere. Upgrading the network could help carry more renewable electricity to homes and businesses, but the work is costly and takes time.
The costs of balancing the grid are recovered through the energy system and can affect household bills. They also matter for the shift to lower-carbon electricity: if the grid cannot move renewable power to where it is needed, some generation goes unused while other sources fill the gap.
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The case for
The high balancing costs show that Britain needs to expand and modernise its transmission network so renewable electricity can reach where it is needed. Curtailing wind while paying gas plants to generate wastes available low-carbon power and may increase costs for households; faster grid investment could reduce both problems as more renewables connect.
The case against
The reported costs are a reason to scrutinise the pace, design and financing of a £150bn networks upgrade, whose expense may itself affect bills. Building transmission takes time, and supporters of a measured approach could argue that investment should be coordinated with where generation and demand will be, while balancing tools and cross-border power help manage constraints in the meantime.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Cost of balancing Great Britain’s power grid reaches nearly £50m a day”.