October 26, 2011
Scotland
Scotland
Wind farms shut because it’s too windy
By STEVE HAWKES, Business Editor, The Sun, www.thesun.co.uk 25 October 2011
By STEVE HAWKES, Business Editor, The Sun, www.thesun.co.uk 25 October 2011
National Grid has been forced to ask wind farms to shut down for the second time in a MONTH – because it’s too windy.
Seven wind farm operators switched off their turbines on Monday night.
National Grid said they were generating TOO MUCH power as storms ripped across Scotland.
It leaves taxpayers with yet another bill. National Grid has to pay wind farm operators compensation when asking them to stop the turbines.
National Grid said: “It was very windy yesterday and there was some curtailment of wind generation.”
Despite huge subsidies for wind farm operators, National Grid claims its network is not ready to handle the power surge in storms.
Demand for electricity also drops off late at night.
National Grid paid out almost £3 million to wind farm operators in compensation in mid-September when a dozen wind farms were shut for three nights in a row.
Fred Olsen Renewables pocketed £1.2 million.
The Grid spokesman insisted: “This is all a normal part of how we balance the electricity transmission system and manage constraints on the network.”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/10/26/wind-farms-shut-because-its-too-windy/