Why pay wind farms to switch off?
Wind curtailment happens when the network cannot carry the electricity being generated to where it is needed. Flexible demand behind the constraint can use more of that power locally. Turn-Up is in development to help sites schedule that demand within their operating limits and earn from flexibility services.
What does switching off wind actually cost?
The problem is a bottleneck in the network. When wind output cannot cross a congested boundary safely, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) reduces generation behind it and buys replacement generation elsewhere.
Octopus Energy puts the cost of switching off wind and replacing it with gas generation at £1.47 billion in 2025. Most of that cost was for replacement generation, rather than payments to wind farms.Source 1 Paying to remove renewable output and then replace it is the problem flexible local demand can help address.
Why does using more electricity help?
Demand turn-up means using more electricity when there is surplus power on the grid, usually because wind farms are generating more than the network can move. A cold store, fleet depot or pumping site may be able to move electricity use into those hours without changing the work it needs to do.
NESO's Demand Flexibility Service pays energy users to change when they use electricity.Source 2 The Local Constraint Market buys extra demand behind the Scottish boundaries when the network is congested.Source 3 Location, availability and the relevant service rules matter: flexible consumption has to help with the actual constraint.
How will Turn-Up turn that into paid demand?
Nodal Shift Turn-Up is being built to connect to a site's existing controls, forecast constraint events and schedule extra demand inside limits set by the operator. Those limits include temperatures, charge levels and production schedules.
We sell your flexibility to the services that pay for it and pass your share of the revenue to you, with a report for every event. This is the planned product, rather than a claim about customer results. Turn-Up is in development.
If your site can use electricity a little earlier or later without changing what it does, it may be able to earn from demand turn-up.
Read our guide to demand turn-up for the services, participation routes and operating considerations. Join the Turn-Up waitlist to tell us about your site.