Grid Balancing Costs Hit Nearly £50m a Day as Wind Output Is Curtailed

The cost of balancing Great Britain's electricity grid has reached nearly £50 million a day, as the grid operator pays large sums to switch off windfarms in areas with excess generation while turning on gas plants elsewhere, The Guardian reported.

The practice, known as curtailment, sees wind turbines paid to stop generating in parts of the country where the network cannot carry their output, while gas-fired plants are paid to ramp up production to meet demand in other areas. The result is a daily bill approaching £50 million for keeping the system in balance.

The figure highlights the strain on Britain's transmission infrastructure as wind capacity expands faster than the grid can absorb it. When generation is concentrated in regions with limited network capacity, the operator must intervene to prevent overloads, compensating windfarm owners for lost output and paying gas plants to fill the gap.

The arrangement carries a dual cost: payments to wind operators to stop producing, plus payments to gas generators to replace that lost electricity. The reliance on gas plants to plug the shortfall also means the balancing mechanism can raise emissions even at times of abundant renewable generation.

For investors, the near-£50 million daily figure underscores the scale of spending flowing through the balancing market and the value at stake in grid upgrades. It also signals a persistent revenue stream for flexible gas capacity, while highlighting the exposure of wind operators to curtailment payments and the network constraints that trigger them. The cost of managing those constraints now represents a significant recurring charge on the system.