From growth to gridlock: Curtailment pressures in the UK wind sector

Curtailment costs in the UK wind sector have surged into the hundreds of millions of pounds annually, transforming a technical balancing issue into a direct concern for investors. As capacity additions, particularly offshore, race ahead of transmission reinforcements, wind farms are increasingly required to scale back output, with revenues suspended during negative price periods and curtailed volumes concentrated in Scotland. While Contracts for Difference (CfDs) provide stability, they also reshape bidding behaviour and lower curtailment payments, masking risks that ultimately show up in project cashflows and system-wide costs.