— Flexitricity opens doors for new connections to its demand response network —
Businesses and organisations across the UK are being urged to become part of a network of ‘virtual’ power stations and secure a share of £4.5million.
Flexitricity is seeking new organisations to join its network of Energy Partners who help National Grid balance and secure the national electricity system via the Capacity Market, which was introduced by the UK Government to find new sources of energy to ease pressure on the nation’s supply of energy.
Companies who sign up to Flexitricity are rewarded for making adjustments to their energy consumption or onsite generation during periods of system stress.
The Edinburgh-based business has already allocated over £7m worth of contracts to its existing partners – including manufacturers, data centres, refrigerated warehouses and hospitals – who earn up to £60,000 per MW supplied to the Grid.
Ron Ramage, Chief Executive Officer at Flexitricity, said: “By connecting to our network, companies and organisations have the opportunity to avoid costs and significantly boost their revenue with no adverse impact on their day-to-day business.
“Our system works by periodically lowering electricity consumption at our Energy Partner sites when National Grid is facing imbalance between supply and demand. By responding to this, companies are rewarded.
“Similarly, those partners with on-site generation capability could be called upon to deliver additional power for short periods. It’s a fully automated service with 24/7 monitoring available to all our Energy Partners from our Edinburgh based control room.”
Called demand response, the system has been identified as a key component of the UK’s electricity supply chain, with National Grid confirming it will invest up to £400m a year in demand response by 2020.
Flexitricity says its remaining Capacity Market contracts will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis to eligible companies. Partners must be connected by June to generate revenue during the forthcoming delivery year, commencing each October.
Mr Ramage added: “This is a huge opportunity for companies and organisations across the UK to get on board with demand response during the early stages of the Capacity Market. Connecting to our network now means reaping the benefits sooner and gaining a strong foothold for future opportunities in demand response.”
In 2014, Flexitricity became the first company of its kind to secure obligations to provide 260MW of capacity to the GB Capacity Market, starting in October 2018. This was repeated the following year with 277MW of Capacity Market obligation secured for the 2019 delivery period.
This year the business will add the 2020 delivery year and participate in the planned Supplementary Capacity Auction that aims to provide market participants with an earlier year of opportunity, commencing in October 2017. This approach will secure four full years of known Capacity Market revenue for participating Energy Partners.
The market was created as part of the UK Government’s Electricity Market Reform package to secure additional energy supplies during a period when capacity margins are expected to reach their lowest level for decades.
About Flexitricity
Flexitricity partners with businesses throughout the UK to provide reserve electricity to National Grid.
The word “Flexitricity” means “Flexible Electricity”. The company looks for flexibility in electricity consumption and generation, creating revenue for energy users and generators using the flexibility they find.
Flexitricity was founded in 2004 by Dr Alastair Martin, a professional energy engineer with experience ranging from gigawatt-scale coal and nuclear power stations.
Based in Edinburgh, the company introduced the concept of aggregated load management and flexible generation.
National Grid’s estimate of savings to consumers can be found at: http://www.nationalgridconnecting.com/how-dsr-could-transform-our-energy-system/
