Danish wind turbines are now producing so much energy that they may have to be stopped at night in order to avoid excess production duties.

In October, turbine owners will have to pay an excess production duty of DKK 1.70 for each kilowatt of energy produced during evenings and nights when there is too much electricity on the market.

“The last thing that we want to do is to stop a wind turbine. But we may have to. No-one wants to produce at a loss,” says Wind Energy Denmark Director Niels Dupont who administers a third of the wind energy production in Denmark.

Energinet.dk, which administers the Danish electricity network says that periods with too much electricity in the network will rise from 100 hours per year to up to 500 hours.

“When prices go negative, wind turbines will probably have equipment installed so that you can reduce production,” Marketing Manager Nicolaj Nørgaard Petersen tells Jyllands-Posten.