UK network operator National Grid spent 77% less in 2012-13 less than the previous year on wind constraints: £7 million (EUR 8.2 million) was paid out, which accounted for 4% of total constraints, compared with £31 million — 9.5% of total constraints across all forms of electricity generation — in 2011-2012.
The amount of wind constrained dropped from 206GWh to 67GWh. That is about 0.5% of all electricity generated by onshore wind over the year.
There is less need to constrain wind thanks to reinforcements made to the transmission network, a spokeswoman for National Grid said.
Also, a change of wind farm licencing rules has driven down the average price paid per megawatt hour of wind constrained to £113 in 2012-13, compared with £165 in 2011-12.
National Grid does not reveal data on payments to individual wind farms. However, according to anti-wind organisation the Renewable Energy Foundation, RWE Npower's Farr wind farm near Inverness, Scotland, has received the most money to shut down so far: £4.8 million to stop operating for 25,124MWh.
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