UK Wind Boom Spikes Prices, Threatens Plants: Study

The dramatic growth in wind turbines around the British Isles may lead to huge spikes in power prices by 2030 and threaten the viability of backup plants needed for calm periods, according to Poyry Energy Consulting.

Britain and Ireland have ambitious targets to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, with wind turbines expected to reduce most of the climate warming gasses from the power sector.

But the level of wind energy envisaged will lead to extreme price swings by 2030, with times of negative prices when the wind blows hard and spikes to almost 8,000 pounds per megawatt hour when the wind drops, according to a new study by Poyry.

The price volatility casts serious doubts on whether the current power market mechanisms will ensure investment in the plants needed as back up, with the UK market even less able to cope with the wind power boom than Ireland’s.

“If significant wind energy is achieved … we predict power stations which are built now will face much more uncertain revenues in the future,” the report says.

“Uncertain to the point that plant may only operate for a few hours one year and then hundreds of hours the next year.”

After studying extremes of low and high wind from 2000-2007, Poyry found output varied even annually by almost 25 percent in the Irish market and 13 percent in Britain.

Planet Ark