UK Windfarms Paid To Stop Generating Electricity - Report

20th Jun 2010 14:28

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. windfarm companies are paid not to produce electricity when the wind is blowing, the Sunday Telegraph reports without citing sources. In the first successful test shutdown last month, Scottish Power, the U.K. arm of Spain's Iberdrola SA (IBE.CM), received GBP13,000 for stopping two farms for just over an hour around 0400 GMT, the newspaper reports. National Grid PLC (NGG), the U.K.'s power grid operator, fears that on breezy summer nights, wind farms could cause a surge in the electricity supply which isn't met by demand. Electricity, unlike other forms of energy, can't be stored in large quantities. Newspaper website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/7840035/Firms-paid-to-shut-down-wind-farms-when-the-wind-is-blowing.html -By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9328; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 20, 2010 09:28 ET (13:28 GMT)