The dynamics of balancing electricity supply and demand on the grid have been deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but it's certainly not the only reason why the UK's electricity system operator is introducing a new service called Dynamic Containment. What is it and why is the UK already replacing its firm frequency response (FFR) and other ancillary services?
UK aggregator Kiwi Power is launching a ‘co-optimisation’ offering as it warns that relying on fast frequency response (FFR) could risk half of potential revenues.
Merchant energy storage has become an investable asset class in the UK, a provider of battery optimisation services has said, with the market moving away from an emphasis on contracted revenue streams for supplying grid services.
As battery owners and operators seek to maximise the returns from their assets, they simultaneously face the Herculean challenge of managing degradation.
A report out today on the causes of the UK’s recent blackout, where electricity supply to 5% of National Grid’s customers was cut off “to protect the other 95%”, highlighted that 475MW of batteries were used to help bring the network back online.
Following February’s excellent Energy Storage Summit at London’s Victoria Park Plaza hotel and hosted by our publisher Solar Media, here’s a short series of videos posing some of the big questions around energy storage, renewables, climate change, business and the industry, and more.
Hornsdale Power Reserve (HPR), the 129MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) deployed by Tesla and developer Neoen in South Australia in just 100 days, has been found to have had a positive impact on the local network.
Battery assets have been used in the UK's Balancing Mechanism for the first time via a virtual power plant, marking the start of what could be a new era for energy storage business models in Britain.
Energy asset developer and owner Statera Energy has clinched a refinancing deal for its 50MW Pelham utility-scale battery storage plant in England, in a transaction which it says demonstrates both the maturity and “bankability” of the asset class.
Eelpower, a UK-based developer which has executed renewables and cleantech projects including hydroelectric-plus-storage, has secured a £20 million (US$28.5 million) investment from investment trust Gravis Capital Management to build out its pipeline of permitted energy storage sites and pursue new development opportunities.
News in brief from around the world of energy storage.
UK demand response and energy resource aggregation company Kiwi Power has unveiled its largest behind the meter battery to date with the completion of the 4MW / 4.8MWh Tesla battery at Cenin Renewables in south Wales.
National Grid has revealed a simplified, more standardised approach to Firm Frequency Response (FFR) procurement whilst teasing the first details of its fast-response follow-up to EFR.
Changes to the de-rating factors for battery storage projects competing in the UK's Capacity Market (CM) will push the sector towards longer-duration batteries, while potentially sparking a shift towards energy arbitrage as a source of revenue for shorter duration applications. David Pratt heard from several industry sources following last week's announcement.
Battery storage technology costs will have to fall by a further 30% before projects in the UK are feasible without lucrative frequency response revenues, a leading investor has said.
Eelpower has commissioned a 10MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in England, backed with both frequency response and capacity market contracts, in the first of a new pipeline of projects being planned by the company over the next decade.
A representative of National Grid, the UK’s transmission system operator (TSO), has said that energy storage will be “integral” to the network’s flexibility strategy – while urging developers not to rely solely on early frequency regulation contracts.
Siemens has continued to bolster its UK presence with a new partnership with Grid Battery Storage Limited (GBSL) which will see a 22MW portfolio of four projects built and an ‘energy storage as a service’ offering launched.
The UK’s large-scale battery storage installations have reached 100MW of capacity, made up of around 50 individual sites larger than 250kW. Lauren Cook of Solar Media's Market Research team discusses how this point has been arrived at and what we might expect to see coming next.
Chris Pritchett of UK law firm Foot Anstey recently served as moderator for the “Developers and financiers debate” at the Energy Storage Conference at the Solar & Storage Live 2017 show in England. Afterwards, Andy Colthorpe caught up with Chris for an in-depth interview on camera.
UK electrical distribution system operator Northern Powergrid has begun using a £4 million (US$5.27 million) battery paid for by consumers to sell services to National Grid, despite plans from the national regulator Ofgem to prevent distribution network operators (DNOs) from doing so in future.