What happens when the wind blows in the UK? We get cheap electricity from wind farms right? Er.. well no that is not happening.
The national grid is paying for windmills to stand idle because they have too much energy on the grid. In a process called Grid balancing the grid operator Transco pays out millions to wind farm owners, and other electricity producers, to stop them from making energy.
Previous blogs on this site have discussed the need to upgrade the electric grid in the UK. Providing a smart grid for our renewable future is one step in the right direction. If we owned the national grid we could start building this smart grid and save almost £ 500 million pounds a year in ‘Constraint Payments.’ Transco wants you and me to pay for this grid upgrade with more money while they make record profits.
I thought that capitalism worked in a different way. If I pay for resources and then produce something, I need to charge enough to make back what it cost and a bit more for profit. Transco is making record profits and wants to increase your bill to pay for a modern Grid system! It used to be that a company would invest some of its profit into buying new equipment to become more competitive. Transco has no competitor so they can do what they want.
In the USA the renewable energy marketplace is in an even worse state. The power companies are now charging the owners of solar roof top systems for ‘maintenance for the grid.’ Needless to say that folks in Arizona are not rushing to buy solar systems. It is a real shame too. Arizona could be free of the need for a utility company or a grid operator if they just build more rooftop solar systems. Arizona has a LOT of sun that is going to waste. The energy operator in that state is still making big profits on the backs of the good folks that might be getting energy for free. Welcome to Corporate America!
Will we see this kind of pressure put on the renewable movement by the energy industry in the UK? I think we already are seeing this happen! More later in the saga of renewable energy VS the energy Goliaths.