Thousands of wind turbines will be shut down during Storm Éowyn because its 100 mph gusts are expected to generate more power than the UK’s electricity grid can handle.
When Éowyn impacts wind farms in Scotland and the North Sea on Friday, the extreme winds will produce excessive energy, forcing operators to disconnect their turbines.
Despite being offline, the turbines are anticipated to generate millions of pounds in profits for wind farm operators, who will receive constraint payments for their shutdown.
In the UK, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) compensates wind turbine owners to halt electricity generation. This funding is ultimately sourced from consumers’ energy bills.
Storm Éowyn is forecast to bring winds of up to 100 mph, triggering a “red” warning from the Met Office for Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland. This level of alert indicates a significant risk of property damage and personal injury.
This winter’s storms have already proven that wind turbines can be highly profitable for the predominantly foreign companies operating UK wind farms.
According to the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), Storms Ashley in October and Bert in November resulted in £26.3 million in payments to energy companies.
A large portion of these payments is linked to Scotland, which is home to 4,839 onshore wind turbines and 378 larger offshore units with a total capacity of around 14 gigawatts (GW)—enough to theoretically supply power to over 10 million homes.
However, much of this potential energy remains unused because the UK’s transmission infrastructure has not expanded sufficiently to match the growth of wind farms. As a result, Neso must pay wind farms to stop generating electricity while also compensating gas power stations in England near major cities to come online instead.
Last year, approximately £500 million was paid out in constraints to all power generators, with around £350 million of that amount going to wind farm operators, mostly in Scotland.
This system, known as the balancing mechanism, adds about 4% to electricity bills—equating to roughly £48 per year for the average consumer, according to a recent Neso report.
