MORE than £275m was paid to Scottish wind energy suppliers last year to turn the turbines off.
New data from the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) found the Moray East offshore windfarm was paid nearly £43m for delivering no energy, while Seagreen, off the Angus coast, was paid the nearly £40m, the second most.
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The constraint payments are made to operators due to grid congestion with the electricity unable to be stored.
Mid Hill in Aberdeenshire was paid more than £2m, while South Lanarkshire’s Clyde was paid nearly £17m, the most for an onshore windfarm.
The system has been called a “national scnadal” by the REF, but SSE Renewables say the problem cane fixed.
An SSE spokesman said: “Constraint payments are made when the energy being produced in one part of the country can’t get to another because there simply isn’t the capacity to carry it.
“We can fix this with policies that speed up investment in electricity networks and energy storage technologies, such as pumped hydro storage, so we can get the most out of our enviable renewable resources.”
