24/05/2021 | Grid
"Charging the Wrong Way" report on grid transmission charges
24 May 2021 - Analysis by RIDG (Renewable Infrastructure Development Group)
New research shows that Britain’s energy regulators are putting billions of pounds of green infrastructure investment at risk by overseeing an energy market which favours EU energy imports at the expense of home-grown schemes.
Electricity generators in the UK pay transmission charges for the cost of building and maintaining the network, set by the regulator Ofgem and ultimately paid by consumers as part of their bills.
The analysis entitled "Charging the Wrong Way" by RIDG (Renewable Infrastructure Development Group), a member company of RenewableUK, highlights the stark anomalies in how electricity generators access the GB market – with operators in Germany, France and the Netherlands able to export energy significantly cheaper than projects in the UK, because they pay very low transmission charges, or none at all.
As a result, the UK risks becoming a net importer of renewable energy in the decades ahead, despite having the best wind energy resource in Europe which should, with the right regulations in place, be used to drive export-led growth.
Find out more about how electricity generators access the GB market
Read the analysis