UK wind farms were paid over £4.8 million ($7.88 million) to turn off their turbines over the holidays leaving tens of thousands of homes without power as storms hit the country. The payments, known as ‘constraint payments’, were paid because the National Grid was unable to handle the extra wind power produced during the storms or because electricity usage was low. The ‘constraint payments’, which are paid to wind farms to turn off their turbines when winds hit up to 100 miles per hour, compensate firms for energy they are unable to sell. The payments are added to the bills of the country’s electricity consumers even though the storms resulted in power outages for thousands of homes.(i)
