Wind curtailment has cost the UK over £1 billion so far this year, two months earlier than last year. Data from Octopus Energy’s Wasted Wind website, which tracks the amount of money spent on paying to compensate wind farms, found the country passed the £1bn mark on 1 October. It took until December last year for the UK to hit £1bn of, with Octopus Energy telling Energy Voice at the time that “the future looks worse” for wind curtailment. At times of peak supply, wind farms, especially in the north of Scotland supply more power than the local grid can handle, risking overloading it. Ultimately, these costs are passed onto consumers, who have to make two payments – one to shut down the wind farms and another to bring in new power.