17 Jun 2025
The National Energy System Operator’s (NESO) annual report shows that in 2024, the UK spent a staggering £2.7 billion on “balancing” the electricity supply. A significant chunk of that, around 13% of the year, was spent paying wind farms not to generate electricity.
The Scottish Borders has long been at the forefront of the UK’s renewable energy push, with vast swathes of countryside dotted with turbines spinning in the gusty upland air. These recent figures reveal that this green ambition carries hidden costs which are increasingly borne by taxpayers.
The problem lies in where the energy is generated and where it's needed. Scotland, particularly the Borders and Highlands, has become a wind powerhouse. But the infrastructure to move that energy south, where most of it is consumed, simply doesn’t exist at scale. The electricity grid is constrained, especially in Scotland. When supply outpaces what the grid can handle, turbines are “constrained off,” and the grid operator compensates them. Taxpayers foot the bill.
In effect, we pay twice: once to build and subsidise the wind farm, and again to switch it off when the grid can’t cope.
This issue isn’t new, and critics have long warned that wind farms are being built faster than the grid can adapt. But what makes this year’s figures stand out is the scale: £2.7 billion is a record. With more onshore wind farms planned in Scotland and the rest of the UK it raises the question: how much more can the system, and the taxpayer, handle?
For the Scottish Borders, this debate hits close to home. Communities here often welcome wind developments for the investment they bring, but they’re also on the front lines of national energy policy’s unintended consequences. It’s not unusual for turbines to sit idle on windy days – not due to lack of wind, but because the grid simply can’t take the power.
Yet, we know in the Borders, more and more wind farms are to come. In the Borders there are over 20 wind farms in operation, with more under construction, including Whitelaw Brae and Crystal Rig IV, and more than 20 more at various stages of the planning system.
NESO itself acknowledges the issue, stating: “Wind curtailment is currently a major driver of balancing costs. This is because a large proportion of wind capacity in GB is connected in Scotland, which at present is a constrained region of the network.”
A final, sobering thought is that according to recent analysis, had the UK stuck with gas-powered electricity generation since 2006, consumers would be £220 billion better off by 2025 – a staggering sum when households are still reeling from years of high energy prices.
This isn’t a call to abandon renewables. The transition to clean energy is vital. But what the current system shows is that ambition without infrastructure leads to inefficiency, and for areas like the Scottish Borders, that inefficiency is playing out in real time. Wind farms here aren’t just generating power; they’re exposing the cracks in a grid that hasn’t kept up.
If the UK wants to double down on wind, as it seems determined to do, it must first confront the elephant in the room: the grid. Otherwise, we’re not just chasing wind – we’re wasting it.