Mmastodon EnvironmentEnergy first seen 2 d ago, last 1 h ago, peak #1

Britain paid windfarms 9GW to switch off as gas filled in

Original: "Overall, windfarms and hydropower plants with about 9 gigawatts of capacity were paid to not generate on Wednesday..eno

On Wednesday, grid operators paid windfarms and hydropower plants with around 9 gigawatts of combined capacity to stop generating — enough to power more than 8 million typical households — while instead paying gas and biomass plants to fire up and buying additional power. The apparent constraint mismatch between clean generation and grid capacity is drawing criticism that consumers are paying twice: once for unused renewable electricity and again for fossil backup.

Why now: People are frustrated that curtailment payments to renewables, plus extra gas costs, are being passed to energy bills while clean power goes to waste.

National Grid ESOwindfarmshydropower plantsgas power plantsbiomass plants

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Evidence

• "Overall, windfarms and hydropower plants with about 9 gigawatts of capacity were paid to not generate on Wednesday..enough to power more than 8m typical households. Instead, the grid operator was forced to pay for a string of gas and biomass plants to fire up and bought more… · junesim63@mstdn.social · 70

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