Grid Congestion Costs Taxpayers Nearly €600 Million in 2023 for Unused Renewable Energy
Annual Excess of Untapped Green Energy Results in Half a Billion Euros Drained from Taxpayer Coffers
You wanna know about all that green juice going to waste? Well, buckle up!
Last year, when the wind didn't bless our sails and the sun hid behind clouds, our renewable energy producers lost loads of power – power they couldn't feed into the grid due to bottlenecks. And who suffered? You, me, and every other taxpayer, 'cause guess who had to fork over half a billion euros in compensation? Yup, you guessed it.
The Federal Ministry of Economics dropped a truth bomb about this when they replied to Dietmar Bartsch, the Left party honcho. They dished out 553.94 million euros to wind and solar plant operators who had their plants shut down during grid congestion.
Wind Farms Making East Frisian Communities $$$
Listen, renewable energy operators have it made. When the market price drops below a guaranteed value, the government is obligated to pay them a minimum purchase price for their power. This is to give certainty and nudge the expansion of renewables.
Now here's the twist: On windy days, if the grid becomes overloaded, operators have to shut down their plants – even when they've already been paid for the power. If they end up earning less than the guaranteed support price, Mr. Moneybags, the government, steps in again and pays the difference. The 2023 compensation figures relate to these instances when solar and wind farms had to reduce production due to network overload threats.
Rural Anger and Green Energy Boom
Most wind farms are in Northern Germany because hey, guess where the wind blows, right? Y'see, that means more renewable power production in the north, but transmission capacities are often not enough to transfer the power to the south. How often we have to compensate operators depends on the weather and the health of the power grid. And the exact amount in each case is also influenced by the market price, natch.
Half a Billion Less in 2023
The good news? Things have been getting better, it seems. In 2021, the state coughed up 807.10 million euros in compensation, but in 2023, the figure dropped to 580.32 million. 2022 was a wild card, though, with only 186.14 million euros spent on compensation.
Here's the skinny: high electricity prices during the energy crisis meant the operators were making bank already from the market prices and needed little to no support from the government.
Source: ntv.de, rog/dpa
- Renewable Energy ☀️
- Power Grids ⚡️
- Wind Energy ⚞
- **Solar Energy
- Despite several payments to renewable energy operators due to grid congestion, it's clear that politics plays a significant role in community and employment policies, as these payments are often a result of guaranteed purchase prices and compensation schemes.
- The high expenses on compensation for renewable energy operators in 2021 compared to 2023 indicates a possible improvement in power grid management, which is generally news worth following in the realm of general-news and policy discussions.
