Britain has already spent £1bn this year on wasting wind power, reaching that target two months earlier than last year, and costs could reach £3.2bn in the next 12 months, according to the system operator.

Data by the Wasted Wind tracker shows the enforced turning off of wind farms and switching on gas plants instead has already costs a £300m more than this time last year. Britain’s wasted wind bill is rising fast under the current electricity market design, which the system operator (Neso) recommended replacing years ago, with costs more than doubling in just two years.

The problem comes because Britain’s electricity grid often cannot move all the power from where it is being generated to where it is needed, meaning wind farms in Scotland are regularly paid to turn off while expensive gas plants close to demand centres in the south are fired up instead. The most expensive day so far this year was on 2 July, when £21m was paid out to wind and gas generators in constraint payments in a single day.

The system operator predicts these so-called constraint costs to soar to £3.2bn over the next 12 months, while the Government warns costs could reach up to £10bn by 2030.

Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, said: “The way Britain’s electricity system is run is bonkers, you wouldn’t grow tomatoes in your garden, only to bin them and buy expensive, imported ones from the shop. So why are we doing the same thing with electricity?”

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