Nearly £1.5 billion worth of wind power has gone to waste in Britain this year, as grid bottlenecks dog Ed Miliband’s Net Zero plans and drive household bills higher. The Telegraph has the story.

The cost of switching off wind turbines and firing up alternative power sources in 2025 has jumped by nearly a fifth compared to last year, new data shows.

Households and businesses ultimately bear these costs through their bills.

It is a fresh blow to Mr Miliband, the Energy Secretary, who has pledged to cut household energy bills by £300 a year this decade.

So-called curtailment occurs when the grid is congested and cannot transport power from wind farms in remote areas, often in Scotland, to where it is needed most in other parts of the country.

At the same time, grid operators must call on gas plants to step in and keep the lights on with replacement power, often at great expense.

Regulator Ofgem warned earlier this year that curtailment had added around £15 to household bills under its October price cap.

With only days to go before the end of December, the combined total of this spending now stands at £1.46 billion this year – up from £1.23 billion in 2024, data from the Wasted Wind tracker website show. …

The cost of wasted wind power is expected to climb further in the coming years as Mr Miliband pushes for further wind and solar generation to be connected to the grid to meet Labour’s ambitious Net Zero targets.

By 2030, ministers have pledged to source at least 95% of Britain’s electricity from clean sources.

As part of the rollout, the Government is also scrambling to upgrade the electricity grid’s capacity. Still, key projects are currently on course to be delivered later than needed, raising the prospect of billions of pounds in additional curtailment costs.

Worth reading in full.