British households and businesses may receive additional payments for energy consumption during hours when wind and solar power generation reaches its peak. This is due to the increase in clean energy generation and a lack of storage capacity.
According to Euronews, the UK Department for Energy Security has announced the testing of a new system of energy supply discounts for households on windy days.
The summer forecast from the UK’s national energy operator recommends that producers encourage energy consumption during periods of high supply. Specifically, this could mean paying households and factories for consuming excess electricity.
Solar energy has shifted the balance
In 2025, renewable sources provided the UK with a record 44% of its energy. Forecasts indicate that supply may exceed demand this summer, driven by the proliferation of residential solar panels.
In theory, the energy could be exported, but the EU is also developing its renewable energy sector, so this will be challenging in the summer. Therefore, operators are focusing on new conditions for domestic consumers.
Currently, preferential terms are already in place for using energy during peak production hours. Now, direct payments may be offered for such consumption.
“This means that consumers can get a real bargain by running their washing machine when it’s really sunny,” said Jess Ralston, Head of Energy at the UK non-profit organisation Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
The energy system is not ready
The energy systems of countries remain unprepared for renewables. They were built for stable, controllable supplies from gas and coal-fired power stations.
You can’t control the wind and sun, so the system must respond flexibly to peak generation periods. If the amount of energy fed into the grid exceeds consumption, frequency is disrupted, which can lead to blackouts.
Since energy storage systems are not yet well developed, operators are forced either to shut down renewable energy plants or to offer preferable terms to consumers.
Shut-offs have reached colossal proportions. Data from the analytical agency Montel Energy show that France, Germany, and the Netherlands together cut “green” energy production by 3.9 TWh in 2025, which is 21% more than the previous year.
“Each country also set new highs for hours of negative electricity prices, which occur when supply exceeds demand and can mean lower bills for customers on variable tariffs,” writes Euronews.
However, the UK’s experience shows that shutting down wind farms and replacing them with gas-fired energy costs the economy more than paying households.
EcoPolitic reported that every tenth kilowatt of energy consumed by humanity is already produced by wind.
