There have been some big headlines in some newspapers about wind farms being paid to “not make electricity”. These payments are called “transmission constraint payments” and happen because of the way the electricity market works.
The National Grid has to balance electricity supply and demand across Britain. At some places, particularly the England / Scotland border, the grid is pretty weak and can get jammed. If one area is making too much electricity then it needs to be switched off.
It is easier to switch a wind farm off than traditional power plants. In 2010/11 the total cost of “Transmission Constraint Payments” paid was £170 million. Most of this was paid to coal, gas and nuclear power plants and actually 0.1% was paid to wind farms. Still, any money paid to private companies to not do something seems wrong.
The cost still goes onto our bills and the Dunbar Community Energy Company welcomes the fact that the Department of Energy and Climate Change announcement that it plans to change the Energy Act 2010 to reduce the amount of “Transmission Constraint Payments” by changing the licence rules for electricity generators.
You can see more on their website
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/trans_const/trans_const.aspx