A series of unwelcome records were broken over the Bank Holiday weekend period, from Friday the 22nd to Sunday the 24th of May, 2020.
(i) Constraint payments made to wind power to reduce output within the Balancing Mechanism were £9.3 million – the highest ever paid for any three-day period (Sunday Telegraph “Wind Farms Paid Record £9.3m to Switch off their Turbines”).
(ii) System electricity prices dropped below zero for long periods with a record average price of -£17 per MWh being recorded on the 22nd.
(iii) Intermittent day-ahead prices used to calculate CfD subsidies averaged -£10 per MWh on the 23rd, the first time the average for an entire day has been negative.
(ii) System electricity prices dropped below zero for long periods with a record average price of -£17 per MWh being recorded on the 22nd.
(iii) Intermittent day-ahead prices used to calculate CfD subsidies averaged -£10 per MWh on the 23rd, the first time the average for an entire day has been negative.
The cost to the consumer of balancing electricity over this chaotic weekend is in excess of £50 million (The Times “National Grid pays out £50 million to turn power down as lockdown hits demand” .
The constraint payments made to wind power to reduce output within the Balancing Mechanism over the Bank Holiday weekend period, from Friday the 22nd to Monday the 25th of May inclusive are summarised in the link below
This was an exceptionally expensive weekend, and while National Grid ESO’s control-room engineers are to be credited with maintaining system operability we believe that our statement to the Telegraph on Sunday the 23 May bears repeating:
Overdeployment of renewables in the UK, particularly uncontrollable wind and solar, has resulted in a very fragile electricity system, which is inflexible and unable to deal with accidents and unexpected circumstances at a reasonable cost to consumers.
Grid balancing expenditure so far this year is already horrific and by the end of the summer it will be terrifying.
This is a national embarrassment, and a disgrace to the management of the electricity sector who have complacently allowed this crisis to develop over the last decade
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