The climate grifters who descended on Glasgow to tout the purported benefits of wind power were done in by the weather, as wind power output collapsed for weeks across Europe in the lead up to COP26.
During most of September and into October, Europe’s wind farms are the victims of the Big Calm, when the Wind Gods conspired to reduce wind power output to a risible trickle; and the UK was forced to fire up its mothballed coal-fired power plants. Hardly an advertisement for our ‘inevitable’ wind power transition.
The embarrassment continued as the private jets carrying thousands of renewable energy rent seekers and crony capitalists touched down outside Glasgow and the gabfest got underway.
On 2 and 3 November, wind power output in the UK plummeted to around 5% of its nameplate capacity; wholesale power prices went through the roof, topping out at £4,000/MWh – the price charged by Britain’s two remaining coal-fired power plants for literally saving the day.
In an effort to prove the ‘value’ of wind power in Scotland, the organisers had conscripted the Griffin wind farm in Perthshire as its purportedly exclusive power source for the duration of the conference – in much the same way that sports teams nominate a goofy mascot to the focus their supporters’ lust for victory.
Then, as COP26 progressed – as if to cement the point about how meaningless wind power is – UK’s taxpayers were forced to fork out £519,778 to switch off the Griffin wind farm, because it was over producing and had nowhere to dispatch the excess.
As wind power generated when no one wants it has absolutely no value, at all, the wind industry has been able to extort what are called “constraint payments”.
By demanding constraint payments, wind power operators literally hold taxpayers to ransom by forcing them to pay them to stop generating power that would otherwise interfere with the frequency and voltage of power passing within the grid, destabilising it, and causing brownouts, power surges and worse. It’s a case of ‘cough up or the grid gets it’.
Net Zero Watch takes a look at the obscene cost of wind industry’s favourite shakedown method.
Official COP26 wind farm showcases obscene renewables costs
Net Zero Watch
Press Release
9 November 2021
High costs and the unreliability of renewable energy are the single largest obstacle to climate policies and are at the heart of the resistance of developing nations to follow the EU and UK’s favoured Net Zero plans at COP26.
This fact has been put in the spotlight by the revelation that the official electricity supplier to COP26, the Griffin wind farm in Scotland, has been paid substantial constraint payments during the conference.
The Griffin wind farm in Perthshire is the official electricity supplier to the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, though of course the conference buildings actually rely on the grid mix of electricity generation, including nuclear, gas, and even coal to guarantee security of supply (see Coal keeps the lights on at COP26 as low wind strikes again).
Even more embarrassingly, it now transpires that the Griffin wind farm has been receiving large payments to reduce generation due to low local demand and weak grid connection between the wind farm and the majority of the grid’s consumers.
The Scottish edition of the Daily Express has revealed that the wind farm has received about £500,000 during the conference to reduce generation (UK bill-payers fork out more than £500,000 to switch off turbines at official COP26 wind farm.)
Such payments are highly anomalous in the electricity market, since wind farms lose their subsidy when they are “constrained” off, and this means they demand to be compensated.
Due to the difficulties such wind farms cause the system operator they are able to ask for more than the subsidy they are losing. Consequently, and as a matter of fact, wind farms actually make more money per MWh of electrical energy constrained off than those generated and sold normally to consumers.
Dr John Constable, the energy editor of Net Zero Watch said:
“Wind farms are a low quality generator requiring very costly grid management actions to maintain security of supply. The constraint payments to the COP26 official wind farm are typical of these problems, and a good example of the very high costs that deter the majority of the world from abandoning fossil fuels.
„At some point the green lobby is going to have to choose between sustainable emissions reductions and their failing pet technologies, wind and solar.”
via STOP THESE THINGS
November 18, 2021 by stopthesethings
You must be logged in to post a comment.