16th April 2026
Scottish wind farms generate nearly half of Great Britain's wind power, but in 2025, turbines there were paid £350 million to switch off. At the same time, Britain spent over a billion pounds firing up gas to replace it.
The total bill: £1.35 billion. And it's passed directly onto consumers in their energy bills.
So why is wind curtailment in Great Britain happening, and why is it getting worse?
This is the story of grid constraints. What they are, why they happen, and why solving them is one of the most urgent challenges on the path to clean power.
In this documentary, we examine the infrastructure and market constraints behind Great Britain's wind curtailment problem: the transmission bottlenecks between Scotland and England that cap how much clean power can flow south; the B4 and B6 grid boundaries where constraints are most severe; the role of the National Energy System Operator (NESO) in managing the grid in real time; and why gas still dominates over batteries when constraints hit.
We also look at the three routes available to fix the problem and why none of them are straightforward.
This is why Great Britain pays to turn off the wind - and what it would actually take to stop.
Our guides are Robyn Lucas, Head of GB at Modo Energy, and Ed Porter, Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy. Together they break down:
Why Scotland generates nearly half of GB's wind power - but can't send it south
What happens inside the NESO control room when a constraint hits
Why the curtailment bill has grown from a few hundred million in 2018 to £2.7 billion today
Why batteries haven't replaced gas - yet
What transmission investment, storage, and market reform could each deliver
Chapters:
0:00 Why Britain pays to switch off the wind
0:54 Scotland's wind problem explained
1:36 What is a grid constraint?
1:57 The B4 and B6 boundaries
2:44 Inside the NESO control room
3:21 Why gas fills the gap and where batteries fit
4:35 The two-part cost of curtailment
5:17 How volatile gas prices make it worse
6:10 Is 30-40% curtailment normal?
6:30 Fix 1: Build more transmission
7:10 Fix 2: More storage and flexibility
7:47 Fix 3: Market reform
8:35 Closing