Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much has been paid in compensatory (a) constraint payments and (b) balancing payments to operators of solar power generating facilities following switch-off orders issued by the National Energy System Operator since 5 July 2024.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for operating Great Britain’s electricity system, which includes managing constraints. Constraint payments are part of Balancing Use of System charges, which are the costs incurred to balance the supply and demand of the grid. NESO publishes total balancing costs here, and more detail on specific bids and offers can be found by Elexon here.

The Government is working to reduce constraints and improve energy security and resilience by accelerating the building of new electricity network infrastructure to increase capacity on the system.