Friends of the Moorland have strategic concerns about the impact of the proposed Scout Moor 2 wind farm on national energy security.

Friends of the Moorland need to highlight the recent issues with the National Grid being operated on the edge of its capacity over the summer period. We have had three Electricity Margin Notices already this summer, which is unprecedented. These are official warnings issued by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) when the available capacity dips dangerously close to demand. As a result, we have been very close to a number of blackouts.

We already knew that the grid was under major strain because NESO has been struggling to manage the large number of connections required by renewable sources. Before Net Zero, connections from the electricity providers were finite and manageable. Now there are effectively infinite providers, making grid reinforcement exponentially more complicated and expensive. Forecast costs are approaching £100bn, to be paid by us!

The situation is worse than it seems, as highlighted by whistle blowers within National Grid. Some operators have come forward and told Claire Coutinho (the shadow energy secretary) that operational decisions are being overridden by the Corporate Affairs team in order to save face. This could not be more serious. Our National Grid is apparently on the brink of collapse, and an urgent investigation has had to be launched into the cover up.

A key driver of these problems is a loss of inertia in the grid – a physical property that helps to maintain grid frequency. This is normally provided by the large rotating masses which make up the turbines in conventional power stations. As a result of the drive for Net Zero, this type of natural (free) inertia is being lost, and the grid is having to procure synthetic inertia to make up for the lack. This includes rotating flywheels which add more complexity and cost. However, they still fall short of replacing the missing natural inertia. Each additional wind farm or solar plant further reduces the natural inertia on the grid, and increases systems costs to balance intermittent supply with demand.

Therefore, Friends of the Moorland are calling for a moratorium on the roll-out of more renewable energy until a thorough and independent review has been undertaken. The review must establish whether we can maintain security of supply with the existing concentration of intermittent renewable power sources before we roll out more.

This summer has demonstrated that it is not just the cost of renewables that are a cause for concern. This is a more fundamental question of whether we will be able to keep the lights on in future?

Regarding Scout Moor 2 specifically, we have already seen many fundamental objections to the development on our moors. Not least of these is the destruction of deep peat and several major objections raised by statutory consultees such as National Air Traffic Services (NATS). Against the backdrop of a failing grid, Scout Moor 2 would be a major project (currently 17x180m high turbines) that could be the tipping point that takes us past the point of no return. There is no good reason to approve this project as we stand.

Whether you live in our area or not, please consider writing to your local councillors and MP to let them know what you think. This is a much bigger issue than the impact of one wind farm on the moors above Manchester.

For more details about these recent issues, please see these excellent articles by David Turver (NESO Suffers Credibility Outage) and Kathryn Porter (NESO cutting exports during a low frequency event may come back to bite us in winter). For a deeper dive into the importance of inertia see this article by Steve Davison called Inertia and Reactive Power.