SCOTTISH Power was paid £107million for switching off its wind turbines during a three-year delay in completing an undersea cable project which was supposed to solve that very problem. The £1billion Western Link from Ayrshire to North Wales was specifically designed to prevent so-called “constraint payments” by allowing more Scottish green electricity to reach consumers in England. Previously huge amounts of energy from Scotland’s wind farms became stuck in a bottleneck at the Border, resulting in operators being paid millions of pounds to shut down – and the cost being passed on to household bills. The new high voltage link, a joint venture between SP Energy Networks and National Grid, was commissioned in 2012 and the project was supposed to be completed by December 2015. However, a series of major problems delayed the start for two years and it then operated at a reduced capacity until last May when it was shut down again before finally coming online on October 16.
Express 25th Nov 2018 read more »