6 Nov 2025
Campaigners in the Borders have called on the Scottish Government to cease issuing planning permits for more wind farms in Scotland – a country which already has built or consented around eight times more wind capacity than it can use.
Speaking today, Rory Steel, chair of the Lauderdale Preservation Group, said: “The UK government must stop issuing lucrative contracts for wind farms built in Scotland when much of that electricity is already constrained off at great cost to domestic and industrial electricity customers.
“Any new developments should be built in England, closer to centres of demand. The matter is only going to get worse unless there is a curtailment in developments. The Scottish Government must recognise that Scotland has already reached, and far exceeded, its practical wind generation capacity, and that continuing to approve more projects serves no public or environmental benefit.”
The calls come after new figures were published in The Herald which show that UK households are paying a staggering £6.6 billion to energy companies for not generating electricity because the national grid cannot handle the volume of renewable power produced by Scottish wind farms. These constraint payments to energy firms for switching off turbines have quadrupled in the past five years, reaching a record £1.7 billion in 2024/25.
The total is almost £700 million higher than the previous year, and of the £6.6 billion spent over the past seven years, around £1.2 billion (approximately 70 per cent) was paid to wind farms in Scotland.
The National Energy System Operator (NESO), which oversees Britain’s electricity supply, estimates curtailment costs could reach £8 billion by 2030.
Mr Steel added: "These figures are a disgraceful illustration of how little concern the UK and Scottish Governments have for both our natural heritage and the spiraling energy bills faced by ordinary consumers.
“Both governments must cease the pointless sacrifice of the Scottish Borders landscape to turbines and infrastructure at huge public expense.
"Surely even the most blinkered politician can see there is no point carrying on granting permission for more onshore wind developments. The Borders landscape is being scarred for the benefit of no-one except the wind farm operators, and enough is enough."
Constraint payments are now a major cost of the UK’s green energy transition policy. Adding to the strain, earlier this month regulator Ofgem raised the domestic energy price cap by 2%, putting yet more pressure on families already facing high winter bills.
For many, the situation symbolises a deeper imbalance: landscapes covered in turbines, consumers paying record bills, and a small number of investors earning billions to switch off uncontrollable weather-dependent power.