The benefit of renewables has been exaggerated. Perhaps they should be described as unreliables or ‘expensives’. They are the reason consumers and industries in the UK pay more for electricity than anywhere else in the world.
There is a growing awareness that our investment in these unreliables is putting us on course for electricity supply problems.
Electricity production from renewables…
- is more expensive than oil, gas, coal, nuclear,
- is only possible through subsidies to the generators which we pay for through our electricity bills
- In the UK subsidies to renewable energy sector costs us £25.8 billion every year (approx 50% of our annual defence budget).
- Subsidy to renewable electricity generators comprises about 40% of the total cost of electricity supply in the UK.
- From 2002 to 2025 the total cost of renewable electricity subsidy schemes was £200 billion (equivalent to nearly £8k per household)
- is not of a type that is stable and easy to distribute around the nation (problems with frequency and inertia)
- happens in locations that need expensive infrastructure to connect to the grid (i.e. we can’t use all that is generated)
- we are paying the generators to discard energy in order to preserve grid stability. This is called constraint payments.
- Sometimes payments are made to a generator in return for reducing output because more electricity is being generated than can be used in a particular region because a grid ‘constraint’ exists – an analogy would be a road block – preventing that electricity being exported to a region where the electricity could be used.
- Such a constraint exists between Scotland and England. Increasingly more electricity is being generated in Scotland than can be used in Scotland, and the grid interconnections between Scotland and England are insufficient to take the excess electricity which is generated, usually at times of often unexpectedly high winds and low Scottish demand.
- In 2025 constraint payments paid to a total of 114 wind farms under the Balancing Mechanism came close to £400M.
- will always require gas powered turbines as back up (because there is no sun at night and the wind doesn’t always blow).
- results in a grid that is very unstable and prone to blackouts.
To understand the issues we need to get to know a bit more about characteristics of electricity and how it is generated and distributed.
Here are some interviews that cover the technical details.
- This short video is a real ‘I never knew that’, about generation of electricity from wind turbines. It includes helpful graphics of the inside of turbines and explains how electricity from wind turbines is different to that from conventional turbines. Its all about frequency and inertia.
- [try this one video and compare with standard narrative] Kathryn Porter, outlines dangers/risks caused by our electricity policies in the UK, particularly about how renewables fit into our electricity grid (my notes and link to original interview)
- Documentary on the situation in Australia by Sky News Australia. The documentary also looks at the situation in USA.
- How UK nearly had a blackout on Jan 8 2025. (interview with Kathryn Porter on UnHerd YouTube channel)
- Is NetZero bankrupting Britain? The UK is spending £25 billion a year in hidden subsidies on green energy—totalling over £220 billion since 2002. Guaranteed high prices for renewables (like windfarms) are implemented through “Contracts for Difference”. This means that even if the electricity produced cannot be used, they still get paid for it. Proposed changes to this arrangment could add another £10b per year on electricity bills. Where is the discussion on this? They can be done quietly, without public scrutiny. For more, see Renewable Energy Foundation.
- Institute of Economic Affairs discusses the recent power grid failure in Spain and Portugal, exploring how increasing reliance on intermittent energy sources like wind and solar may contribute to grid instability.