Overcapacity catastrophe: U.K. pays solar farms to shut down due to grid overload from sunny days

 The U.K.’s push for renewable energy hit a new snag this year as solar farms—long considered a stable alternative to fossil fuels—were paid £102,500 ($139,169) to shut down between February and June. The National Energy System Operator (NESO), overseeing the energy grid under Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s policies, issued orders to reduce output at five solar facilities amid surges of sunshine that risked overwhelming local power networks. The constraint payments, now extending beyond wind farms to solar energy, underscore a growing crisis of renewable overcapacity and grid inadequacy, with costs passed directly to consumers. 

The issue isn’t new. Wind farms in northern Scotland and offshore installations have faced similar shutdown mandates for years, driven by grid infrastructure too frail to handle sudden energy spikes. Now, the rapid growth of solar capacity, particularly in southern England, has replicated the problem. NESO’s records reveal that constraint payments for renewables totaled over £650 million ($882.62 million) this year alone, with projections escalating to £8 billion ($10.86 billion) annually by 2030 unless grid systems are overhauled.

“Britain’s energy bills are surging… constraint payments are a critical and growing factor,” said John Constable, director of the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), which exposed the solar shutdown data. He noted that renewable subsidies, totaling £200 billion ($271.61 billion) since 2002 and nearly £8,000 ($10,863) per household, have failed to create a self-sustaining market. “Developers still rely on taxpayer and billpayer support,” he added, blaming this dependency for the U.K.’s chronically high energy prices...<<<Read More>>>....