Britain enjoyed a record run of negative electricity prices thanks to Storm Amy flooding the grid with cheap wind power.
But before anyone gets too excited, most residential bill-payers will not see that reflected in bills as the majority of households are on fixed tariffs.
Record wind power surge
National Grid forecast up to 20 gigawatts of electricity from wind on Saturday – enough to cover more than three-quarters of the UK’s total demand – enough to drive wholesale prices below zero for 17 straight hours, matching the longest-ever stretch recorded back in May.
The UK’s all-time record for wind generation was set last December at 22.5GW.
To make the best use of spikes in wind power, the UK needs to upgrade its infrastructure.
“There’s very little grid infrastructure to move all that power down from Scotland where there are no people to use it,” said Fintan Devenney, senior energy analyst at Montel.
“The system operator ends up paying wind farms to shut down, and that incurs a cost.”
When too much power costs money
Negative prices occur when supply vastly outstrips demand, often during storms or sunny weekends when renewables surge. Rather than turning off turbines or reactors, power producers pay buyers to use the excess electricity to keep the grid balanced.
Households won’t notice the price swings, as retail tariffs are fixed, but some large industrial users could even be paid to consume more energy during the overnight glut.
