National Grid wants money from wind farmers ...
National Grid is asking for £500m from wind farm developers to expand the
electricity network. Prospective wind farm developers have been told they must supply
bank guarantees to cover the cost of expanding the network to cope with
the extra power. NG is protecting itself financially and weeding out
developers without a long term interest in the industry.
Developers who do not connect their wind farms to the network will
forfeit the money. Those who do connect and supply power will get their money back from National Grid.
Some developers have withdrawn their applications after learning about the financial guarantees.
National Grid says it will cost £550m to upgrade its network to
accommodate the extra 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts of power expected from new
wind farms in Scotland (assuming the wind blows) and cable it to where it's
needed.
National Grid is now sifting through about 170 requests for connection
from power companies.
summarised from a DT newspaper article by ND.
