Ofgem has launched an investigation into Ocean Winds’ compliance with transmission constraint license conditions at the 950MW Moray East wind farm off Scotland.
The regulator said the probe was examining whether bid prices provided by the developer when instructed by the National Energy System Operator to reduce power exported to the grid “were excessive during times of constraint”.
Ofgem claimed the balancing mechanism used by NESO to increase and decrease the amount of electricity produced by different generators “creates a risk that generators could exploit their position by charging NESO excessive prices to reduce their output”, despite being prohibited from doing so by license conditions.
It argues that since the 100-turbine scheme began operating under the balancing mechanism in September 2021 bid prices “appear excessive relative to the expected marginal cost of reducing generation for this generator”.
A spokesperson for Ocean Winds told reNEWS: “We acknowledge the opening of an investigation and are fully cooperating with Ofgem.”