Good article in the P&J, Energy Voice and Courier this morning with SAS getting a mention.
Static wind turbines in the Highlands cost consumers nearly £68 million in 2023.
They accounted for more than one-quarter of all Scottish wind farms receiving “constraint” payments for zero energy output, new figures show.
According to the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), a lion’s share of such payments to UK wind energy suppliers found its way north of the border last year.
Of the £307.2m total for the whole of Britain, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (National Grid ESO) paid a record £275.3m to a total of 86 Scottish generators.
The Highlands led the pay-out league in terms of wind farm numbers, with 22 sites across the region getting payments totalling £67.8m.
Top of the constraint payments league table in the area is SSE Renewables’ 66-turbine Stronelairg wind farm, near Fort Augustus, which received nearly £11.6m.
But the two biggest earners in Scotland were both offshore.
Moray East wind farm, a 100-turbine development in the Cromarty Firth, received nearly £43m for machines delivering no energy.
And the 114-turbine Seagreen scheme off the coast of Angus earned constraint payments totalling nearly £40m.
An onshore wind farm, Clyde, near Abington in South Lanarkshire, comes in third at nearly £16.9m.
Stronelairg raked in the fourth highest total last year.
Meanwhile, Dorenell, in Moray, and offshore development Beatrice earned £9.3m and £9.1m respectively.
Other multi-million-pound earners include Griffin, near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, which received nearly £4.6m.
Mid Hill, a 33-turbine development in Fetteresso Forest south-west of Aberdeen, was paid £2.3m.
Graham Lang, of pressure group Scotland Against Spin, said: “It has been known for some years that the Scottish Government has been consenting onshore wind farms far beyond local demand for electricity.
“The latest data shows Scotland has 15.3 gigawatts (GW) of operational, under construction and consented wind farms. There’s another 7.5GW currently seeking consent – total 22.8GW – yet Scotland only consumes on average 3.6GW of electricity.”
Mr Lang added: “Wind farms have to be turned off, resulting in constraint payments.
“More than a quarter of wind farms in receipt of those payments are in the Highlands. Areas with low demand and weak grid connectivity can encourage operators to take advantage of constraint payments by constructing more wind farms.
“It is the consumer who is paying for constraint payments via higher electricity prices.
The latest estimate is that it is costing every homeowner £40 per year to turn off wind farms in Scotland.
“It is a ridiculous waste of money. It makes no sense at all for the Scottish Government to keep awarding consent for more wind farms.”
He continued: “They need less maintenance and repair if they’re not turning and idle.
“Maintenance is very costly. Better to get paid for doing nothing.”
“Constrained” wind farm operators may also continue to sell energy to the National Grid via battery energy storage systems, Mr Lang said.
He added: “It is a bloated subsidy system, being farmed by developers and operators.”
We can fix this’, says SSE
SSE Renewables is one of the partners behind the giant Seagreen development, Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm.
A spokesman for its parent company, Perth-based SSE, said: “Constraint payments are made when the energy being produced in one part of the country can’t get to another because there simply isn’t the capacity to carry it.
“We can fix this with policies that speed up investment in electricity networks and energy storage technologies, such as pumped hydro storage, so we can get the most out of our enviable renewable resources.
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