Britain’s energy regulator Ofgem has opened an investigation into Ocean Winds to assess whether the company complied with licensing conditions related to transmission constraints at the 950-megawatt Moray East offshore wind farm in Scotland.
The inquiry will examine whether the developer submitted excessive bid prices when instructed by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to curtail electricity exports during periods of grid constraint.
“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,” Ofgem said in a statement. Such behaviour, the regulator noted, would be in breach of license obligations.
The Moray East project, which comprises 100 wind turbines, has been participating in the balancing mechanism since September 2021. Ofgem said bid prices submitted during this period “appear excessive relative to the expected marginal cost of reducing generation for this generator.”
Ocean Winds, a joint venture between EDP Renewables and Engie, acknowledged the investigation.
“We acknowledge the opening of an investigation and are fully cooperating with Ofgem,” a spokesperson for the company told industry publication reNEWS.
Ofgem said it has not made any findings at this stage and the opening of the investigation does not imply wrongdoing.
