Updated
How well renewables are working, and what gets wasted
Wind is one of the biggest sources of Britain's electricity, but not all of what it could produce reaches anyone. When the network cannot carry the power, generators are paid to switch off.
From 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, 11,110,561 MWh of renewable generation in Great Britain was curtailed, at a cost of £428,692,153. At 19:37 GMT on 7 November 2026, metered wind output was 833 MW, 2.8% of connected capacity.
Renewables turned down · Last year
1 Jan to 31 Dec 2025. 365 days of published settlement data.
Energy thrown away
11,110,561MWh
Enough to run about 1,501,427,135 homes for a day
Paid to switch off
£428,692,153
£38.58 per MWh not generated
Recovered through network charges on bills
Share of wind wasted
12.9%
Of everything wind could have delivered
Average per day
30,440MWh
About £1,174,499 a day
Which sources were turned down
Wind dominates, but it is not the only renewable that gets curtailed.
| Source | Curtailed (MWh) | Paid | Share of curtailment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind | 10,178,064.3 | £385,127,046 | 91.6% |
| Hydro | 570,663.1 | £26,818,973 | 5.1% |
| Biomass | 361,833.4 | £16,746,134 | 3.3% |
Who was turned down
Energy curtailed by operator over this period. Scottish wind usually leads, because the network south of the border cannot carry everything it produces.
View as table
| Operator | Curtailed (MWh) | Share of the period |
|---|---|---|
| Seagreen Wind Energy Limited | 2,839,357.3 | 25.6% |
| Moray Offshore Wind East Ltd | 1,747,466.5 | 15.7% |
| Moray Offshore Wind West Ltd | 1,371,911.0 | 12.3% |
| Viking Energy Wind Farm LLP | 1,097,006.8 | 9.9% |
| SSE Generation Ltd | 660,035.6 | 5.9% |
| SP Renewables (UK) Limited | 465,818.0 | 4.2% |
| Drax Power Ltd | 361,833.4 | 3.3% |
| Dorenell Windfarm Limited | 288,022.7 | 2.6% |
| Statkraft Markets Gmbh | 199,384.1 | 1.8% |
| South Kyle Wind Farm Limited | 170,383.9 | 1.5% |
| Eneco Energy Trade | 158,772.0 | 1.4% |
| EDF Energy Customers Limited | 144,813.6 | 1.3% |
| Marble Power Limited | 130,008.6 | 1.2% |
| Stronelairg Windfarm Limited | 124,265.3 | 1.1% |
| Neart Na Gaoithe Offshore Wind | 111,609.7 | 1.0% |
| Limekiln Extension Ltd | 111,096.9 | 1.0% |
| Creag Riabhach Wind Farm Ltd | 78,266.2 | 0.7% |
| Smartestenergy Limited | 64,210.0 | 0.6% |
| Strathy Wind Farm Limited | 60,168.6 | 0.5% |
| Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds | 55,456.0 | 0.5% |
| Dunmaglass Wind Farm Limited | 54,114.6 | 0.5% |
| Erova Energy Limited | 51,948.0 | 0.5% |
| AIK2A Sustainable Energy Ltd | 48,724.0 | 0.4% |
| Sandy Knowe Wind Farm Ltd | 45,578.3 | 0.4% |
| Corriegarth Wind Energy LTD | 43,787.5 | 0.4% |
| Windy Rig Wind Farm Limited | 40,793.6 | 0.4% |
| Uniper UK Limited | 38,208.8 | 0.3% |
| Kennoxhead Wind Farm Limited | 36,213.3 | 0.3% |
| Kype Extension Wind Farm Ltd | 35,053.5 | 0.3% |
| OnPath Energy Limited | 34,277.8 | 0.3% |
| Twentyshilling Limited | 33,498.8 | 0.3% |
| Clyde Windfarm (Scotland) Ltd | 32,981.2 | 0.3% |
| Kilbraur Wind Energy Ltd | 32,479.2 | 0.3% |
| Soundmark Wind Limited | 30,047.5 | 0.3% |
| Evolve Energy Supply Limited | 29,557.5 | 0.3% |
| Fallago Rig Wind Farm Limited | 28,909.5 | 0.3% |
| Breesea Limited | 27,938.8 | 0.3% |
| BROCKLOCH RIG WINDFARM LTD | 24,689.4 | 0.2% |
| Griffin Wind Farm Ltd | 22,379.7 | 0.2% |
| Vattenfall Wind Power Ltd | 21,166.3 | 0.2% |
| Vattenfall Energy Trading | 16,532.5 | 0.1% |
| Aikengall 2 CWCL | 14,729.0 | 0.1% |
| London Array Limited | 11,842.4 | 0.1% |
| Benbrack Wind Farm Limited | 9,779.0 | 0.1% |
| Mobius Renewables Gen. (GB) | 9,461.0 | 0.1% |
| Beinneun Wind Farm Ltd | 9,390.1 | 0.1% |
| Sonningmay Wind Limited | 8,818.5 | 0.1% |
| Walney Extension Ltd | 6,113.6 | 0.1% |
| Edgware Energy Limited | 5,542.2 | 0.0% |
| Gwynt y Mor Offshore Wind Farm | 5,475.3 | 0.0% |
What curtailment adds up to
Over the 12 months to 6 November 2026, whichever period is selected above.
2 days are still provisional and may be revised.
Paid to switch off
£459.6 million
Payments to the generators turned down
Energy not generated
13,468GWh
Enough to run about 4,987,972 homes for a year
Split across UK households
£15.85
Illustrative: businesses pay a share of this too
Paid to switch off, month by month
In millions of pounds. Months the archive only partly covers are marked in the table and will be understated.
View as table
| Month | Curtailed (MWh) | Paid | Days covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 595,896 | £13,477,161 | 31 of 31 |
| Feb 2025 | 1,212,037 | £36,428,860 | 28 of 28 |
| Mar 2025 | 1,083,891 | £28,781,117 | 31 of 31 |
| Apr 2025 | 351,804 | £11,553,603 | 30 of 30 |
| May 2025 | 567,819 | £24,126,937 | 31 of 31 |
| Jun 2025 | 1,229,761 | £54,947,241 | 30 of 30 |
| Jul 2025 | 518,810 | £25,412,330 | 31 of 31 |
| Aug 2025 | 902,005 | £42,959,391 | 31 of 31 |
| Sep 2025 | 1,152,252 | £55,052,347 | 30 of 30 |
| Oct 2025 | 1,365,624 | £56,672,898 | 31 of 31 |
| Nov 2025 | 1,039,923 | £38,096,271 | 30 of 30 |
| Dec 2025 | 1,090,740 | £41,183,998 | 31 of 31 |
| Jan 2026 | 1,289,178 | £31,882,787 | 31 of 31 |
| Feb 2026 | 928,560 | £18,777,758 | 28 of 28 |
| Mar 2026 | 1,579,084 | £54,764,778 | 31 of 31 |
| Apr 2026 | 1,197,446 | £40,379,422 | 30 of 30 |
| May 2026 | 656,483 | £13,863,587 | 31 of 31 |
| Jun 2026 | 782,717 | £29,409,379 | 30 of 30 |
| Jul 2026 | 694,713 | £27,016,616 | 31 of 31 |
| Aug 2026 | 484,321 | £14,825,455 | 31 of 31 |
| Sep 2026 | 1,929,562 | £75,557,174 | 30 of 30 |
| Oct 2026 | 2,111,150 | £87,185,096 | 31 of 31 |
| Nov 2026 | 9,566 | £801,327 | 6 of 30 |
These are payments to the generators turned down. They leave out what is paid to other generators to replace that output, so the full cost to the system is higher.
How wind is performing right now
Wind output now
833MW
Against 29,987 MW of connected capacity
Capacity factor
2.8%
Share of maximum output being delivered
Forecast error
20.3%
230 MW average miss
How far the day-ahead forecast was out
Forecast bias
Optimistic
Forecast expected more wind than arrived
Forecast against outturn
The day-ahead wind forecast and what actually materialised. The forecast runs ahead of the measured line, which stops at the present.
View as table
| Half hour | Forecast (MW) | Actual (MW) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 21:00 | 1,963 | 1,599 | +364 |
| Fri 22:00 | 1,921 | 1,610 | +312 |
| Fri 23:00 | 1,830 | 1,593 | +238 |
| Sat 00:00 | 1,775 | 1,450 | +325 |
| Sat 01:00 | 1,629 | 1,407 | +223 |
| Sat 02:00 | 1,433 | 1,183 | +250 |
| Sat 03:00 | 1,233 | 962 | +271 |
| Sat 04:00 | 1,249 | 898 | +351 |
| Sat 05:00 | 1,279 | 965 | +314 |
| Sat 06:00 | 1,326 | 1,107 | +220 |
| Sat 07:00 | 1,428 | 1,133 | +295 |
| Sat 08:00 | 1,430 | 1,118 | +313 |
| Sat 09:00 | 1,489 | 1,272 | +217 |
| Sat 10:00 | 1,442 | 1,223 | +219 |
| Sat 11:00 | 1,301 | 1,179 | +122 |
| Sat 12:00 | 1,169 | 1,030 | +139 |
| Sat 13:00 | 1,114 | 947 | +168 |
| Sat 14:00 | 1,089 | 943 | +146 |
| Sat 15:00 | 956 | 924 | +32 |
| Sat 16:00 | 1,009 | 803 | +206 |
| Sat 17:00 | 1,067 | 864 | +203 |
| Sat 18:00 | 1,043 | 946 | +97 |
| Sat 19:00 | 1,096 | 833 | +263 |
| Sat 20:00 | 1,095 | - | - |
| Sat 21:00 | 1,016 | - | - |
| Sat 22:00 | 969 | - | - |
| Sat 23:00 | 908 | - | - |
| Sun 00:00 | 861 | - | - |
| Sun 01:00 | 835 | - | - |
| Sun 02:00 | 849 | - | - |
| Sun 03:00 | 869 | - | - |
| Sun 04:00 | 892 | - | - |
| Sun 05:00 | 895 | - | - |
| Sun 06:00 | 862 | - | - |
| Sun 07:00 | 847 | - | - |
| Sun 08:00 | 808 | - | - |
| Sun 09:00 | 794 | - | - |
| Sun 10:00 | 794 | - | - |
| Sun 11:00 | 813 | - | - |
| Sun 12:00 | 825 | - | - |
| Sun 13:00 | 802 | - | - |
| Sun 14:00 | 769 | - | - |
| Sun 15:00 | 723 | - | - |
| Sun 16:00 | 704 | - | - |
| Sun 17:00 | 699 | - | - |
| Sun 18:00 | 700 | - | - |
| Sun 19:00 | 750 | - | - |
| Sun 20:00 | 790 | - | - |
| Sun 21:00 | 809 | - | - |
| Sun 22:00 | 812 | - | - |
| Sun 23:00 | 807 | - | - |
| Mon 00:00 | 801 | - | - |
| Mon 01:00 | 808 | - | - |
| Mon 02:00 | 854 | - | - |
| Mon 03:00 | 908 | - | - |
| Mon 04:00 | 969 | - | - |
| Mon 05:00 | 1,043 | - | - |
| Mon 06:00 | 1,123 | - | - |
| Mon 07:00 | 1,193 | - | - |
| Mon 08:00 | 1,266 | - | - |
| Mon 09:00 | 1,330 | - | - |
| Mon 10:00 | 1,356 | - | - |
| Mon 11:00 | 1,348 | - | - |
| Mon 12:00 | 1,365 | - | - |
| Mon 13:00 | 1,414 | - | - |
| Mon 14:00 | 1,478 | - | - |
| Mon 15:00 | 1,609 | - | - |
| Mon 16:00 | 1,922 | - | - |
| Mon 17:00 | 2,394 | - | - |
| Mon 18:00 | 2,878 | - | - |
| Mon 19:00 | 3,279 | - | - |
| Mon 20:00 | 3,589 | - | - |
| Mon 21:00 | 3,854 | - | - |
What curtailment is, and why it happens
Britain's windiest places and its biggest demand are at opposite ends of the country. Scotland generates far more wind power than it uses, and the transmission lines running south can only carry so much. When more is produced than the network can move, something has to give.
What gives is the generator. The system operator accepts a bid from it to produce less, and pays it to stop. The energy is not stored or redirected anywhere - it simply never gets produced, and the wind passes through the turbines unused. Gas plants nearer the demand are then paid to make up the shortfall, so consumers pay twice.
This is a network problem rather than a wind problem. New transmission links and grid-scale storage are being built to relieve it, but they take years, while wind capacity has grown quickly. Curtailment is the visible cost of that mismatch.
Forecast error matters for a related reason. Wind being variable is manageable; wind being unpredictable is expensive, because the system operator has to hold other plant in reserve to cover whatever the forecast gets wrong. A smaller error means less standby generation burning fuel for nothing.
Why solar is not shown here
Solar curtailment cannot be reported from this data, and it would be misleading to show a zero. Almost all of Britain's solar is connected to local distribution networks rather than the transmission system, so it never enters the Balancing Mechanism - the market through which generators are instructed and paid to change output.
There is no solar fuel type in the Balancing Mechanism unit register at all. A handful of very large solar farms are registered under a general category, but they are a small fraction of installed solar and are not identifiable as solar with any confidence.
Wind, hydro and biomass are all shown above, because those do appear in the register and are all curtailed in practice. Solar is the one renewable this data cannot speak to.
Common questions
What is curtailment?
It's when a generator gets told to make less power than it could. With wind, that usually means the turbines could be running, but the network has no room for what they'd produce.
Why are wind farms paid to switch off?
Britain's windiest spots are a long way from most of its demand, and the lines between them fill up. When that happens, the system operator pays wind farms to turn down, then usually pays another generator closer to the demand to fill the gap.
Who pays for curtailment?
Consumers, in the end. The cost goes into network charges, and those end up on energy bills.