Power prices soar: Big power companies' revenues from wind farms are also soaring

IRELAND: According to official estimates, as electricity costs rise, huge power firms' wind farm income are increasing.

All of the major energy companies in Ireland, such as ESB, Energia, and SSE Airtricity, hold wind farms that provide electricity to the wholesale market.

In the 12 months starting in October of next year, the state's Utilities Regulatory Commission (CRU) predicts that wind farms could earn an average of €330.23 per megawatt hour (MW/h) for power sold to the wholesale market.

That's more than six times what regulators forecast the sector would make in the same time period two years prior, when energy prices started to climb quickly in 2021.

As homes and companies suffer with high energy and natural gas bills totaling up to €2,600 and €2,200 annually, respectively, news of wind power's revenue spike is released.

The typical household in Ireland uses 4 MW/h of power annually. Since wind farms are only operational for a third of the year, each home in the Republic contributes a gross income of €440, or €36.67 each month.

In his budget speech next month, Taoiseach Michael Martin promised that the Government will take a windfall tax on energy business profits into consideration. Yesterday, he informed reporters that these companies were all turning "substantial profits."

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Up until last year, the majority of wind farms in the Republic were earning either €72.69 MW/h or €75.24 MW/h, the minimum rates under the State's Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff support programme.

The ESB responded that the legislation requires it to abstract its breeding and accumulation operations, which includes Electric Ireland, when asked on Thursday if it could use the growth in wind acreage balance to account for price increases.

According to the State corporation, Electric Ireland "continues to offer the best price it can for customers by supplying one of the widely acknowledged electricity rates in the market."

A 300MW wind farm owned by Energia was criticised for its inflated number projections. It stated that in its retail division last year, "significant banking losses were compensated" by the use of renewable and gas energy sources.

SSE Airtricity claimed it did not think about costs despite having 700 MW of wind capacity, making it Ireland's best renewable electricity provider.

The company stated, "We're actively monitoring the current market motion and eager to minimise the impact on our customers as much as possible."

The group announced that it just apprenticed to ensure readily accessible buyers for the remainder of the year.

The CRU revealed last year that households would receive a €89.10 payment from some renewable generators that would have wide-ranging power costs higher than those for which they would have apprenticed under a new structure intended to support their business.

However, the majority of Irish wind farms benefit from the previous REFIT plan, which does not require them to pay back money if the overall sum exceeds the total for which they were approved under this system.

While wind farms that operate under the new Renewable Energy Support Scheme, which incorporates the acquittance requirement, only total 156MW, they have the capacity to accumulate 4,000MW of electricity through REFIT.

When prices declined below the amounts promised by these schemes, buyers made up the difference by paying an accessible account obligation charge.

Generators sell electricity at a high cost to enterprises that store energy for homes and businesses. The system is intended to favour capable businesses that offer reasonable prices.

However, because wind farms receive a set minimum payment for producing electricity, they merely sell it at whatever the market will bear.