Some 1.49 terawatt hours (1.49 million megawatt hours) or 3% of wind power generated in 2017 was ‘wasted’ according to consultancy Enappsys.
At average wholesale prices of £45/MWh, that equates to around £67m worth of lost power.
The firm’s report, however, suggests the now operational Western Link interconnector will reduce the amount of wind generation that has to be curtailed in the future, enabling more of Scotland’s wind power to be moved south of the border. That 97% of wind power was accommodated by the GB system could arguably also be viewed as a success.
Meanwhile Enappsys’ data shows that bringing ~3.5GW of supplementary balancing reserve plants back on system and the launch of the capacity mechanism smoothed out second half price spikes in comparison to those experienced in recent years.
The report states that renewables generation topped a quarter of total generation in 2017, thanks in part to a windy year.
Across 2017, wind farms provided 14.6% of total generation, biomass 7.4%, solar 3.3% and hydro 2.0%, with renewables accounting for 27.3% of the generation mix, according to the firm.
Overall, 39.2% of generation came from gas-fired plants, 27.3% from renewables, 21.6% from nuclear, 6.8% from coal stations and 5.2% from interconnections
Meanwhile, GB peak demand continues to fall, down 6% year on year to 287.5TWh.
See the report here.
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