Major wind energy producers are going to receive Government-backed incentives to shut down production at wind farms during strong wind gusts.
Renewable energy companies could receive up to thousands of pounds each day per site in order to keep the turbine-produced power off the National Grid. According to the grid operators, the power being produced at such sites when wind is blowing is unusable.
Now, critics of wind-generated energy have jumped at the chance to use the revelation to support the criticism that wind farms are unsustainable as a means of meeting future UK energy needs. The opposition says that the unpredictability of wind energy makes it an unreliable form of electricity for the nation.
Firms have been asked to stop generation of power on particularly breezy nights, as the National grid fears it could actually lead to a surge in the power source. Since there is no way to store the electricity, it must be reduced or switched off entirely - known as the ‘balancing mechanism’.
Three weeks ago, Scottish Power launched the first successful closure of its wind farms receiving £13,000 for taking two sites offline. But, the National grid could be paying quite a bit for these closures, which will ultimately cost consumers as well.
Dr Lee Moroney, the planning director at the Renewable Energy Foundation said as more wind farms are developed, the issue will only continue to escalate. He added that because wind power cannot be controlled, it will not provide solid electricity for the national grid in a way that is manageable. Dr Moroney said that it seems wrong to pay large sums of money to multinational corporations to ‘not’ produce power.
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