The star quintet showed outstanding promise among participants in the DNO’s ‘Power Among Us’ programme. They now receive apprenticeships in craft roles related to the capital’s power grid.

The ‘Power Among Us’ programme saw UK Power Networks reaching out for the first time to various youth groups across the capital, to offer work experience for young people from communities so far under-represented in the energy industry.

The initiative was inspired by the UK’s cost-of-living crisis, where significant levels of unemployment are being experienced in London. Opportunities were given to nine individuals not in employment, education or training (aka ‘NEETs’).

Participants spent two weeks in UKPN’s offices where they developed soft skills in communication and interaction with colleagues, at the same time growing to understand how the UKPN operates.

The second half of the programme saw them go out with trained engineers to see first-hand how the power network is maintained.

UK Power Networks aimed to provide interns with employability skills that can be transferred into a variety of industry sectors.  The enterprise has judged  ‘Power Among Us’ first cohort to be a success, with every intern displaying skill and determination to learn about the industry.

The regional netco, a Top 50 Inclusive Employer, has made been at pains to give opportunities to youngsters who have traditionally not considered or had difficulty in accessing careers in electrical engineering. It plans to expand the initiative to the South East and East, after the programme’s success.

UKPN’s outreach and development specialist Natasha Paramasamy was among the initiative’s leaders. “The progress and growing maturity observed in our interns are commendable, “ she noted.

“They have dedicated themselves wholeheartedly, embracing an open mindset throughout the programme. The presentations they delivered at its end reflect the positive influence it has had on their personal and professional development.”

UKPN’s director of network operations Patrick Clarke began his career as an apprentice. He added:

“I think the industry has got some way to go. It’s still not seen as an attractive industry to some young people, and certainly not to young people from diverse backgrounds.

“To make this change, fishing in many different pools is essential, so when we cast our nets there will be interest from all types of people – because the best candidates come from every part of society”.

Kamron Nicely is one of the chosen five.  “The skills that I’ve developed is learning the difference between an electrician and an electrical engineer”, he said.

“If I wasn’t offered this opportunity, I would be doing voluntary work for an electrician, which is what I was doing before this. I would say this will have a good impact on my life and change my life because hopefully, I can get to a place where I want to be.

‌”It’s going to improve my future”, Kamron added, “by giving me the experience to come across business people, working class people and build networks in the future. I’m ready to start at UK Power Networks right away to be honest. They’re saying May or September, but hopefully it will be May”.

The post Star interns celebrate UKPN’s offer of full-time roles appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Serving 20 million customers across London, southern England and east Anglia, the DNO says it has used the ‘Technical Issues’ collaborative programme between netcos to speed  up 25 new generation projects on its patch.

A total of 836MW of new capacity can now connect as soon as the projects are built, says the DNO, cutting waiting times in some cases by years.

As the netcos’ response to fury from developers facing connection delays in some cases of a decade or more, ‘Technical Issues’ works by offering solar-, wind-farm and battery hook-ups at supply nodes to lower voltage regional DNO grids, and before necessary reinforcements can be made to the NG’s higher voltage national transmission system.

Algorithmic routing then eases the likelihood of pinch points being overloaded at times of highest demand or highest generation, cutting the chances of wasteful, expensive ‘curtailment’ of the new assets’ output.

A relaxation of restrictive practices, in other words, while maintaining safety, and all achieved over what grid operators know as their Distributed Energy Resource Management (DERMS) platform.

UKN says it is also taking a ‘leading role’ in the Strategic Connections Group led by industry body the Energy Networks Association.

UKPN customers it cites as having benefitted from speedier connection offers include a 98MW solar farm in East Anglia and a 100MW combined storage and solar site in the South East.

They are among 14 projects in East Anglia totalling 465MW and a further 11 ventures in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, totalling 371MW. That volume of new generation amounts to roughly one fifth of the peak demand of the London distribution network.

Giles Frampton of developer Evolution Power said one of its solar farms can now connect four years earlier than planned.

“Working closely with UK Power Networks, we have been able to bring forward a solar PV project’s connection date by four years, which will significantly contribute to the UK’s progress towards Net Zero and Energy Security, whilst also driving down the cost of electricity for both domestic and industrial consumers”, said Frampton.

UKPN’s director of DSO Sotiris Georgiopoulos  said: “We’re taking real, tangible action to help our customers overcome the long-term challenges on the national transmission system, an approach that is ultimately going to get more green energy into more people’s homes and businesses.

“This is just another step on our journey, and it is only by co-operation and collaboration that we’re able to make such important strides towards achieving Net Zero.”

The post Now UKPN trumpets its speed-up of new renewables connections appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Developed, says the operator, from extensive engagement with connections counterparties, the report unites for the first time data selected to shorten connections waits for green power generators and storage operators.

The ClearViewConnect platform allows customers to look up any grid supply point (GSP) in their license areas and access technical data, including capacity and updates on network reinforcement tasks.

The report will also provide an anonymised view of the pipeline of generation connections for a specific GSP, allowing customers to see what their connection timeline could look like and anticipate any loss of availability, should their desired hook-up be accelerated.

Information provided by the report will help developers reach decisions on green generation projects, allowing them to identify the best connection point for their assets and also understand interactions with other connections and capacities nearby.

Over 2023 National Grid has talked to three of its largest generating customers – Octopus Energy, RWE and Severn Trent – to develop the report.

Presented as the first of its kind from a DNO, the portal brings together valuable connections data and insights for customers and developers in an easy format. It will tell developers in quest of connections which network area offers them the most realistic prospect of quickest, cheapest links.

A further benefit to the DNO itself and to developers, Clearview’s backers believe, will be exposing as redundant alternative requests for links, lodged by developers as risk-spreaders in the connections process. Less attractive schemes should drop from the connections pipeline, shortening wait queues for all applicants.

The operator is eager to share with other DNOs its know-how acquired in building the information tool. Its launch follows Ofgem’s recent announcement on robust milestone management.

National Grid ED intends working with customers, accumulating their feedback in quest of tweaks and amendments yielding more value.

The DNO’s president Cordi O’Hara declared: “We’ve set about finding practical ways to accelerate connections and the delivery of key green energy and infrastructure projects.

“We are also keen to work with the rest of the industry to share the learnings and model from this process, so that they can be easily replicated by individual DNOs as an offer to their customers.”

Responding from Ofgem, interim director for network pricing Steve McMahon enthused: “This is a welcome step forward.

“Improving the transparency and consistency of data for network users is core to Ofgem’s Data Best Practice Guidance.  We are pleased to see NGED making more data available.  We encourage them, and all networks, to continue to work closely with their customers, and each other, to ensure that the provision of network and connections data across GB, for all parts of the system, is co-ordinated and responsive to stakeholder needs.”

Octopus Energy Generation’s boss Zoisa North-Bond commented: “Long and opaque connection queues are preventing customers from fully benefiting from low-cost green power, while stopping developers from making the best decisions about where to invest.

“We congratulate Cordi‘s team for providing more visibility of projects in the queues in their network. I look forward to seeing other networks follow suit.”

Northern Powergrid capo Phil Jones said; “Our company has been working at pace to speed up grid connections for our customers. We recognise the importance of making transparent and accurate data available to customers for them to plan their projects confidently.

“National Grid’s collaborative lead on the website means that we are quickly able to adopt it enabling our customers at all stages of their project to assess the viability of the project from the outset and find the best point for their connection. This is excellent progress in helping our customers with greener energy solutions, and we at Northern Powergrid are continuing to work on improvements, alongside our fellow DNO’s, to enable our customers to get connected much faster and more efficiently.”

Besides ClearViewConnect, National Grid is developing a suite of tools to support wider industry reform of the connections process. To view the report, look here.

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Calculated by the ESO as six times the capacity of the Hinkley C nuclear plant, the ‘twenty gig’ offer is split 50:50 between already flagged regional distribution schemes, and higher-voltage transmission networks.   NG-ES says today’s announcement is in line with its five-point plan for hook-ups.

Over the Grid’s high-voltage transmission spine, 19 amp-hosting projects totalling around 10GW will be offered new dates to plug in, averaging four years earlier than current expectations.

The ESO’s removal of its insistence on non-essential checks before any battery is connected, a concession long sought by developers, enables today’s acceleration.

Over its lower-voltage distribution network spanning the Midlands, south west England and south Wales, an additional 10GW of unlocked capacity already announced will speed the process. The Grid portrays its initiative as bringing forward ‘shovel ready’ schemes by up to five years.

National Grid say it has talked to more than 200 projects interested in fast-tracking distribution hook-ups.  Sixteen say they want to plug in before late 2024, with another 180 looking to connect within two to five years.

The privatised NG-ESO is the monopoly which controls the contractual relationships governing the connection of new generation sites.

Prioritising shareholder pay-outs over essential upgrades to switches and cables is often cited by critics & clean power developers as causing waits of a decade or more to plug in new wind and solar farms.

Last month Common Wealth, a Labour-aligned think tank, reported that the privatised Grid had paid just short of £ 28 billion in dividends since privatisation in 1986. Achieving Net Zero by mid-century will require between £40 bn and £110 in network upgrade, they said with the costs likeliest to fall on customers or taxpayers.

The left-leaning analysts calculated that decarbonising Britain’s grid as expected by 2030 will require building five times the length of high-voltage backbone as were completed in the past thirty years.

Today’s acceleration will be delivered by National Grid Electricity Transmission (ET), the ESO’s arm charged with designing and building in England and Wales’ transmission infrastructure.

The passing into law two weeks ago of the 2023 Energy Act has also helped the initiative.  It will see the Grid’s duties as an ‘energy systems operator’ widened into its imminent replacement, a ‘future systems operator’.

ET president Alice Delahunty declared:  “We’re committed to speeding up connections and creating a ‘fit for the future’ process for plugging projects into the grid.

“Bringing these battery projects forward is one of a range of actions that our business is delivering to unlock clean energy capacity in England and Wales”.

NG-ESO chief engineer & head of networks Julian Leslie added:  “We’re pleased to see the tangible delivery against one of the key points of our five-point plan to speed up connections to the transmission grid for battery and storage projects.

“We’re evolving our network and taking the lead on speeding up connections to make our power system fit for the future, to deliver net zero and keep clean power flowing to the growing number of homes and business across Great Britain, fuelling our economy”.

The post NG drops checks on 20GW of battery plug-ins, pledges “6 Hinkley Cs” of quicker storage appeared first on theenergyst.com.

The study, ‘Reform options for TNUoS and constraint management’ explores how rethinking the Transmission Network Use of System charges to accommodate low-carbon technologies could have as much of an impact on decarbonisation as the radical market reforms currently being considered by the government.  Such a re-jig could help achieve meaningful change in a much shorter timeframe, the energy think-tank asserts.

Conventional economic theory came up with the TNUoS charging framework, intended as a mechanism to recover from participants the costs of installing and maintaining Britain’s transmission cables, pylons and switches.

An ever more glaring fault in the set-up, however, is that it was designed to reflect a historic, centrally supplied market, rather than its dispersed, bi-directional future, as demanded by the nation’s transition away from polluting gas and coal mega-generators, towards potentially every hill and field making clean, carbon-free electricity.

Renewables generation, battery storage, and flexible demand are penalised unfairly by backward-looking charging conventions, Cornwall’s paper argues. The result is that fees imposed now on new technologies and ways of managing power flows often reflect unfairly their impact on networks.  In consequence, that spurs uncertainty and demotivation among investors.

The effect, says Cornwall, is increased costs today for all market participants, from generators to aggregators to end users  Worse, deployment is slowed of the clean generation sources essential to achieving Net Zero by mid-century.

The current set up fails too, Cornwall and SSE argue, to address networks’ growing need to cover rising costs of managing chokepoints and other system constraints.  These costs should be managed so they present low or negligible barriers to the electrification of demand, and to the UK’s faster adoption of renewables which Net Zero dictates.

Potential solutions to such costing dilemmas could be evolutionary and incremental, the paper claims, infilcting less pain than some market at present fear.  The analysts present the following innovations:

• TNUoS demand credits. These would see demand receiving credits in a similar way to generation in areas where they could benefit power grids.
• Tariffs specific to energy storage. A relatively small change to current TNUoS arrangements could see a set of tariffs created, expressly for energy storage sites. The tariffs’ design would mirror more closely the costs and benefits arising now from a system featuring growing numbers of grid-scale and near-grid-scale batteries.

Network economists and accountants need to think deeper, Cornwall’s paper urges, into new options that could address the cost of continuing constraints on the transmission network. Ideas advanced by the think tank include:

• Expanding the NG-ESO’s Constraint Management Pathfinder. Extending the National Grid ESO’s existing activities, such an expansion would see a wider application of the same approach to achieving or paying for more behavioural solutions, achieved without ‘big’ engineering or heavy capital spending.
• Rewarding demand management more richly through the Balancing Mechanism. Extending lessons learned from recent load-shifting trials on regional and national grids, more sensitive incentives should exist for conscious time-switching, as practised by heavy-using individuals including industries, and by their aggregators. Incentivising users previously thought too small or unsophisticated to dabble in the Balancing Mechanism would be part of this innovation.
• Improved data sharing by NG-ESO. Persuading or compelling the UK’s backbone operator to open its operational books in greater detail to market traders over longer timescales could foster more intelligent trading and minimise the need for expensive grid re-engineering.

Cornwall Insight’s principal consultant Adam Boorman opined:  “As the government considers revolutionary reforms in our energy market, there’s merit too in considering more gradual approaches. These can still deliver transformative results in less time and with minimal disruption.

“No single solution can comprehensively tackle the challenges of decarbonising the electricity system”, Boorman went on.

“But a combination of incremental changes to areas such as network charging can provide us with the means to make substantial improvements without the need for a protracted and costly overhaul of the energy system.”

From SSE, the paper’s sponsor, market development director Angus MacRae echoed the insight.

“The UK is rightly moving towards a strategic, coordinated approach to building the low carbon infrastructure required to deliver a clean, homegrown energy system, most notably with the accelerated deployment of the transmission network required to connect the huge wind potential across Great Britain.

“However, the current transmission network charging methodology….adds cost and risk to investment in renewable energy in the areas of greatest resource. Importantly it doesn’t incentivise investment in storage and flexible demand in areas where it is needed most.

MacRae added: “This report highlights a set of deliverable, incremental changes to transmission charges and balancing markets. They could unlock significant investment in batteries, hydro-pumped storage and hydrogen electrolysers in congested areas of the network.

“These changes will enable the better use of the deployed renewable energy capacity, reducing emissions and costs for consumers, without the delays and disruption to renewables investment that would come with more disruptive changes to the electricity market in Great Britain.”

For more information, write to this link.

The post Cleverer net charges & more BM players could fast-track UK’s energy transition​​​​​​: Cornwall & SSE appeared first on theenergyst.com.

The grid operator’s Blade project has been awarded over £495,000 to demonstrate how offshore wind farms can be used to restore the electricity grid in the event of a black start.

Advancing a task currently undertaken by fossil-fuelled sources, Blade aims to prove that offshore renewable generation can effectively and efficiently restart the grid and get power flowing back into UK homes, should part of a network fail completely.

It follows the operator’s work in the demonstration of black start services at Dersalloch windfarm in South Ayrshire. There the world’s first grid restart from onshore wind was achieved in 2020 in conjunction with ScottishPower Renewables.

Scott Mathieson, SP Energy Networks’ planning and regulation director explained: “These projects will allow us to continue innovating to deliver a smart and resilient grid that will help us achieve net zero.”

Eric Leavy of SP Energy Networks added: “As more renewable projects are delivered across the UK, we need to show how green electricity generation can perform all the roles that fossil fuel generation has traditionally held. Proving the concept of our Blade project will demonstrate how offshore renewables can and should be used to provide restoration services to the grid and we’re pleased to be able to take this project forward to the next phase.”

SP Energy Networks’ second project aims to show how capacity on its distribution network can be increased to make room for more low carbon technologies without the need for major investment and infrastructure changes.

In partnership with UKPN and Newcastle and Cardiff Universities, the D-Suite project assesses the feasibility of deploying new applications of High Voltage power-electronic technology onto the Low Voltage distribution network.

Using this technology, the capacity on the distribution network is expected to increase by between 20% and 40% without traditional reinforcement.  Freed up capacity can then be used to support SP Energy Networks customers’ move to low carbon technologies.

The operator’s Iain Divers added, “The D-Suite project is vital to showing how we can free up space within the distribution network to allow our customers to adopt low carbon technologies like electric vehicles and heat pumps without having to undertake traditional reinforcement work. Proving the concept of this project will help our customers achieve their own Net Zero goals faster, all the while helping to keep down costs to the consumer.”

The post SP Energy Networks pockets smidgeon south of £1mill to boost grid by 20%-plus appeared first on theenergyst.com.

It is doing so from November next year, by means of a technical change to Britain’s Balancing and Settlement Code known as Modification P415.

Released late on Friday, the regulator titles its changes ‘Facilitating access to wholesale markets for flexibility dispatched by Virtual Lead Parties’.

Virtual Lead Parties are aggregators that work on behalf of electricity generators and consumers to offer balancing services for the electricity system. Currently VLPs can only offer services only in the Balancing Mechanism.

That will change from November 2024, when VLPs will for the first time be permitted offer services in the wider wholesale electricity market.

Elexon is the arms-length platform which runs the Balancing and Settlement Code. Peter Stanley, its chief executive, responded to the Ofgem move: “We recognise the important and growing role flexibility has in electricity markets.  Approval of P415 is an important breakthrough as it will give flexibility providers access to wholesale markets to realise the value of flexible assets.

“In 2019, Elexon opened up the Balancing Mechanism to independent aggregators by creating the Virtual Lead Party role” Stanley went on.

“Since then, we have delivered successive changes to the BSC which create more opportunities for these companies to compete in the provision of balancing services.

“We are excited to be implementing P415 on the Elexon Kinnect platform. In parallel, we will continue to work with industry and Ofgem to progress proposals for the associated compensation mechanism in the Balancing Mechanism for Suppliers and VLPs, in cases where Suppliers’ volumes are adjusted by VLPs.”

Initial industry reaction to Ofgem’s decision was positive. The Association for Decentralised Energy welcomed it as “a watershed moment for long-term energy affordability“ and “a pivotal move in making energy more affordable in the long-term for the public and businesses”.

The trade association noted P415 will be essential in insuring participation in the flexibility market. Once implemented, said the ADE, it will extend trading abilities beyond suppliers, generators and financial traders, allowing independent aggregators of flexibility to access the wholesale market.

Ofgem believes, the ADE noted, that P415 ‘will incentivise increased participation by consumers who can adjust their demand or generation in response to price signals in the wholesale electricity markets’ and also increase the level of flexibility participating in balancing markets, thereby contributing to security of supply and lower balancing costs for consumers’.

Sarah Honan, the ADE’s policy manager on flexibility, added: “Today is a watershed moment for the UK flexibility sector. Thanks to a decision by Ofgem, the wholesale market – where the vast majority of electricity is bought and sold – will open its doors to participants beyond suppliers, generators, and financial traders.

“Independent aggregators of demand flexibility, who will play a crucial role in decarbonising our electricity system, will be able to participate in our largest market. It is likely that we will look back on this decision as heralding a step-change in how we consider electricity market trading both in the wholesale market and beyond.”

For Ofgem’s decision in full, see the regulator’s letter approving the new P415 norm.

The post “Watershed for affordability“, as Ofgem’s P415 opens up wholesale power market to flex providers appeared first on theenergyst.com.

ENW’s Embedded Capacity Register is a database giving an overview of distributed energy resources such as bigger solar roofs & fields, AD plant, and wind and hydro generators. Grid-compatible batteries also feature.

The expanded register now includes connections that have a rated capacity of 50 kilowatts or above. Previously the threshold for disclosure had been 1MW.

Developed through an Open Networks project sponsored by the Energy Networks Association, the resource has immediate value, says ENW, for its potential partners, from battery investors to clean power generators.

It lists information on the location, capacity, and technology type of all distributed generation and DSR resources connected to Electricity North West’s network.

So, who follows?

The database serves  to provide prospective and connected customers with a better visibility of distributed energy resources already hooked up to the network.

Used in conjunction with resources  as Electricity North West’s GIS heat map tool, its network development plan or policies on long-term development, it afford stakeholders clear sight of opportunities or constraints in the connections landscape.  More valuable yet, it displays transparency on activity – or the lack of its – in the DNO’s  connections queue. Better-informed decisions by stakeholders should result.

“We are committed to providing open and transparent data,” said Ian Povey, Electricity North West DSO data manager.

“The expansion of our embedded capacity register to include resources below 1MW will help to support the growth of distributed energy resources in our region and provide valuable insights into how these resources can be used to balance the grid.”

The expanded register can be accessed on the company’s recently launched data portal. This includes interactive maps, downloadable spreadsheets, and API access. ENW promises consistency for developers and other market participants when accessing the data.

Ian added: “The new data portal makes it easy for users to find the information they need, we encourage people to explore the portal and to let us know what they think.”

To secure access, visit ENW’s data portal here.

The post ENW is first DNO to publish minigeneration hubs as small as 50kW  appeared first on theenergyst.com.

At a cost reported at over £60,000, the nation‘s backbone operator this week asked coal-fired generators to warm up furnaces in case additional power is needed during the current heatwave to run air-conditioning systems.

Over last winter, the NG paid furnace operators up to £395 million to ensure a coal-fired reserve, guarding Britain against cold snaps.

But renewables generator-supplier Octopus says its experience indicates a better, dramatically cheaper route to meet demand. Consumers incentivised to shift loads by a few hours could, if scaled up from the supplier’s recent trials, have achieved the same effect for only £100 million, or a quarter of NG’s bill, the supplier argues.

In new analysis, Octopus extrapolates that as much 2.1GW of consumer-provided flex can be obtained nationwide, if bill-payers are educated and paid to provide it.

The paper analyses results from ‘Saving Sessions,’ Octopus’ own flex scheme. It recruited 700,000-plus Octopus customers with smart meters to take part over last winter.

Together, the customer base shifted 1.9GWh of electricity out of peak times, the equivalent of stopping about 2 million washing machine runs.

Scaling up Octopus’ results to all 17.3 million UK homes with smart meters would shift over 2.1GW of demand enough – argues the supplier –  to supplant coal as a backup source.

The top 5% of ‘Saving Sessions’ participants earned over £40 during the trial.  Around 96% of customers surveyed said they’re willing to participate in repeat schemes.

Thousands of customers chose to donate their earnings from the trials to ‘Octo Assist’, Octopus Energy’s financial hardship fund. Together they donated more than £170,000 to customers struggling with their bills.

Alex Schoch, Octopus’ head of flexibility, commented: “We’ve shown the potential of consumer flexibility. Now it’s time to roll it out across the UK and end our reliance on expensive, dirty coal power.

“Over the winter we saw how our future green grid would work. We’ve proven that households can balance the grid and be part of the movement away from fossil fuels.

“We’re still in a cost of living crisis. It’s crazy to pay coal power plants when we could pay hard-pressed customers instead.”

Read Octopus’ white paper here.

The post Cancel coal-ture: “Pay customers, not coal burners”, Octopus tells NG appeared first on theenergyst.com.

The company said work on its second battery installation will begin next month at the site near Pontefract. Full commissioning is due next year.

Ferrybridge’s furnaces went cold in 2016, and much of its infrastructure was demolished last year. SSE has had to re-apply for a grid connection.

The link is confirmed for June 2024, and the project is expected to be fully operational six months later.

Pre-construction contracts have now been signed. The battery system is being developed in conjunction with technology supplier Sungrow Power and builders OCU Services.  Sungrow’s PowerTitan system will cool the installation.

Last summer SSE announced Salisbury, Wiltshire as the site for its first infrastructure supporting battery, a 50MW installation to be managed by contractors Wärtsilä.   The unit is scheduled to go live this September.

SSE says it is investing £25bn this decade  through its Net Zero Acceleration Programme to accelerate Britain’s and Ireland’s transition.  It promises 1,000 green jobs will be created each year.

Last week SSE announced it was rolling its solar and battery unit into its renewables division, speeding development of its pipeline of battery & solar projects in Britain and Ireland.  It cast the move as a springboard for expansion into continental Europe.

“Reaching a final decision for our Ferrybridge battery storage project is another exciting landmark for us”, said Richard Cave-Bigley, the unit’s director.

Yorkshire and Humberside are also home to Europe’s biggest grid-scale storage device so far. Commissioned in November, Harmony Energy’s 196MWh Pillswood project stands next to the Creyke Beck substation in Hull.

As the epochal shift to intermittent renewables progresses, suppliers see battery expansion as irreversible.

Two weeks ago EDF announced its latest utility-strength battery solution, its sixth co-developed with Wärtsilä.  The  57MW/114 MWh installation will be built at Bramford, Suffolk, close to a solar farm planned by EDF.  Subject to planning approval, the battery and farm will go live early next year.

In 2021 Pivot Power, also part of EDF, connected Britain’s first battery direct into the high voltage grid.  It linked a 48MW/50MWh lithium-ion device into a substation at Cowley, Oxford.

The post Ferrybridge to house SSE Renewables’ second grid-scale battery appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Accommodated close to Bramley, 12 miles south of Reading and next to Scottish & Southern EN’s substation, will be a possible 250 MWh-plus of on-tap, tradable power, as now permitted by the Planning Inspectorate.

Penso appealed in October 2021 against local Hampshire planners’ refusal to green-light the installation.

It will be built under an investment deal signed by the firm’s CEO Richard Thwaites, pictured, in October 2021 with BW Energy Storage Systems, a division of global combine BW Group.

Under the pact, the multinational provides capital for Penso to build out the pair’s 3GWh pipeline of intended UK utility-scale power hosting.  The investors’ chief executive Erik Strømsø sits on Penso’s board.

Expanded from its origins in operating oil tankers, BW Group’s worldwide interests embrace energy distribution from a variety of sources, and from managing floating infrastructure in oil, gas and LPG, to water and solar power.

Penso will build and operate Bramley, with BW Energy Storage Systems as the project joint’s shareholders.

Penso’s breakthrough project was its battery at Minety, Wiltshire, initially intended in its early stages to be rated at 50MW. Shell Europe’s New Energies arm bought Minety in 2019, after Penso opted to double its capacity, making it still Europe’s biggest facility power operating in power storage.

Shell-owned Limejump’s trading from the Wiltshire plant began in July 2021.  Further expansion will see Minety grow to 150 MW/266 MWh.

Penso Power CEO Richard Thwaites was Limejump’s chairman until its purchase by Shell. With a background in investment banking, Thwaites is a member of Ofgem`s Capacity Markets Advisory Group.  John Wybrew, Penso’s chairman, has in the past sat on the boards of Ofgem, National Grid and British Gas.

Thwaites said the Hampshire project should enter commercial operation next year.

“Bramley is an important project in our pipeline, and we expect it to play an important role in supporting UK energy security and ensuring the resilience of our electricity system”, the Penso boss added.

The post Penso gets planners’ approval for 100 MW/250 MWh battery near Reading appeared first on theenergyst.com.

For the first time, say the partners, engineers fitting air-sourced or ground-sourced clean heat devices in Octopus customers’ homes can now fit a grid-protecting fuse in a single visit.

Today’s link between Octopus and UKPN, network operators covering  England’s densely populated south east, is the first time any DNO has permitted technicians from an accredited supplier to make micro-changes affecting a regional grid.

The move comes as heat pump providers’ marketing departments search for ways to overcome customer resistance.  A major fear remains high – but falling – upfront costs to replace gas boilers with pumps run on electricity.

By 2025, the government wants 600,000 homes to have stripped out conventional boilers, in favour of heat pumps.  Fewer than 50,000 have done so.

This week a Lords committee reported how the Conservatives’ nine-month old boiler replacement scheme offering £5,000 grants is achieving only half the required rate.

A price war since January over heat pumps has seen British Gas and Octopus, the nation’s first and third electricity suppliers, undercut each other’s installation deals.  Octopus announced an £3,000 all-in offer, only for its Centrica-owned rival to respond with a £2,500 promotion.

Over a twelve-month pilot, UKPN trained dozens of Octopus engineers to perform fuse upgrades alongside pump installations.  The measure now also includes home fittings of new EV chargers.

The partners are calling for other DNOs to repeat their success.

John Szymik, CEO of Octopus Energy Services, commented: “By carrying out fuse upgrades at the same time as EV chargers and heat pumps, Octopus has saved homeowners time, and opened up possibilities for those itching to switch to green transport and heat.

“UK Power Networks has shown vision in initiating this project. We would like to see more suppliers and DNOs to follow in our footsteps to make sure houses across the country have the means to decarbonise quickly and easily. This is the best way to wean ourselves off gas for good.”

Ian Cameron, UKPN’s innovation director, said: “We want to make it as easy as possible for people to switch to a heat pump. Training Octopus engineers means they can get it done there and then when the heat is needed, quickly and safely.

“Collaboration across the industry is key for the UK to achieve its Net Zero ambitions.”

The post UKPN & Octopus partner to offer fuse instals with home heat pumps appeared first on theenergyst.com.

The project’s tech, from a consortium including Wärtsilä, H&MV, inverter makers SMA Solar Technology and GE Grid Solutions, stands to boost Britain’s uptake of renewables.

Wind-generated electricity from onshore turbines and the offshore Viking and Beatrice farms will flow through the device, ready for despatch when most needed.

Funding comes in the form of £235 million of long-term debt customised by five banks, led by NatWest.

Believed to be Europe’s biggest ever project financing for battery storage, the sum is part of Zenobē’s recently announced £ 750 million investment plan for Scotland, set to take the company’s assets north of the border to over 1GW.

Today’s initial 200MW/400MWh capacity is scheduled to go live as early as summer 2024.   The full 300MW/600MWh should be available in the second half of 2026.

When commissioned, Blackhillock will be the world’s first grid-scale device to provide a full suite of active and reactive power services. It will also be the largest transmission connected battery in Europe.

Only four days ago, Zenobē announced a 100 MW storage device going live at Capenhurst, Cheshire, pictured, designed to provide grid stability and more renewables to Merseyside.

The Scottish project is calculated to save consumers up to £170 million from their bills over the 15 years of Zenobē’s contract with National Grid ESO.   Stability services specified in the deal include short-circuit level and inertia balancing.

Wärtsilä is appointed as Blackhillock’s supplier of battery energy storage systems, or BESS.  GE Grid Solutions will deliver two 180 MVA transformers, with H&MV providing balance of plant works.  Glasgow-based civil engineers RJ McLeod have been brought in for site works.

Zenobē co-founder James Basden said: “Blackhillock will use cutting edge technology to provide essential services needed to lower consumer bills and bring more renewable energy onto the grid.

“This is one of several major battery flexibility projects we’re working on in Scotland at the moment, shaping the future for how grid scale battery projects will work on grids across the globe.”

In the view of Jason Devonshire-Mander of SMA Solar UK, “These kinds of stability plants are the missing link to 100% renewables. Value stacking reveals this as a cost effective solution compared to traditional technologies“,

“Our grid forming solution stabilizes frequency and voltage instantly and inherently”.

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The energyco has stolen a march on rivals by launching Max Power, its innovative tariff enabling supply origination and demand sharing across several locations, provided they’re hooked into a single corporate client.

Max Power allows businesses with two or more sites to send any excess renewable energy they’re generating to their other locations in the UK. Octopus estimates it could save some businesses as much as 25% from annual bills.

The model works, regardless of whether firms run their own generation from solar PV, wind turbines, hydro power, geothermal or even battery storage in one location, and share it with their other sites.

‘Panel Power’, Octopus’ existing smart export tariff, already pays solar-generating businesses 15p per kWh for unused power released to the grid.

‘Max Power’ goes further, so multi-site businesses can get the maximum out of the green power they generate by keeping it within their own business.

Octopus positions multi-site sharing of single-site self-generation as helping customers in sectors including retail, logistics, warehousing, FMCG and agriculture.

As ever, Kraken, the industry-leading fulfilment and billing platform around which Octopus functions, is behind the innovation, believed unrivalled among other green providers.  Kraken, was purchased in 2017, by Greg Jackson’s then one year-old debutant.

Kraken was essential to Octopus’ participation last month in National Grid ESO’s new ‘Demand Flexibility Service’, which paid businesses & households to shift consumption out of peak day parts.

Octopus Energy for Business CEO Zoisa North-Bond commented: “Businesses generating their own renewable energy can now bring their bills down further by sharing their cheap green power across their entire estate. Innovation like this puts money back in the pockets of British businesses and gives them greater control over how they use their energy. We’re showing that the greener choice can and should also be the cheaper choice.”

For more details, see here.

Max Power’s launch came the day before the supplier announced it had built Britain’s biggest Virtual Power Plant, yoking together more than 100 MW of EV batteries across the grid.

‘Intelligent Octopus’, another new tariff, is behind Octopus’ VPP success.  Charging vehicles at overnight off-peak rates, can saves electric car drivers over £760 a year, the firm maintains.

Leicester is this innovation’s chosen city of comparison.  The supplier says 100 MW managed by Intelligent Octopus is enough to run the Midlands community’s population of 370,000 for a full hour.

The power firm says its VPP capacity exceeds that of Britain’s current biggest battery now in operation, Penso Power’s 100MW facility at Minety, Wiltshire, funded by China’s Hua Neng Group and subsequently optimised by Shell-owned Limejump.  At stages during its implementation, Penso has earmarked the Minety facility for future expansion to 150MW.

Intelligent Octopus customers use Octopus’ app to set the time and amount they want their vehicle charged by. Kraken works in the background to automatically charge the cars up when there is abundant, low cost energy and when the grid is less busy, helping to balance out demand and supply on the grid.

By doing so, Intelligent Octopus is able to contribute to a flexible grid that doesn’t require expensive balancing costs – bringing down energy bills for everyone.

Octopus head of flexibility Alex Schoch commented: “We urgently need to build flexible grid technology to turbocharge the green energy system. The Intelligent Octopus tariff acts as a virtual power plant, shifting demand out of peak times and therefore cutting bills for everyone.

“As more electric cars take the road and steal market share from old-school gas-guzzlers,” Schoch went on, “we need even more solutions like Intelligent Octopus to handle the extra devices, increase the grid’s resilience and promote a green energy future.”

Correction:  An earlier version of this story incorrectly implied that the Minety 100MW battery is owned by Limejump.  The Energyst is happy to clarify the true position, which is that ownership of the facility continues to reside with Penso Power.

The post VPP champ Octopus Maxes out, permits firms to spread single-site clean generation UK-wide appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Winter imports of expensive LNG took the place of curtailed wind power, analysis commissioned by Highview Power contends, and at eyewatering expense.

With bases in London, Dubai & Sydney, the ultra low temperature “liquid air” technologists claim capabilities in long duration batteries, guaranteeing coulomb conservation for up to 24 hours and low cost grid stabilisation.

Advised now by strategy consultants Stonehaven, Highview estimate that the early winter’s October to January period saw Britain spend more than £60 billion in hydrocarbon imports and in curtailment compensation to offshore wind farm owners, simply due to a lack of current storage.

Instead 1.35 TWh of low-carbon power – enough to power 1.2 million UK homes –  was foregone as turbines were slowed or stilled.

Highpower’s research notes that the early winter’s first four months unusually saw windless, icily cold days when homes need heating, a weather feature known in German as a ‘Dunkelflaute’, literally, a “dark calm”.

They contrasted with a boom in the fortnight after Christmas, when low-carbon sources contributed 82.5% of Britain’s power.

Buying imported LNG was generators’ and grid operators’ solution.  During some parts of the crisis its price was trading at around £3,000 per MWh, stratospherically above last year’s average of £ 60 MWh for electricity from offshore wind, say the analysts.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal the UK imported nearly £20 billion of gas in in 2021 as a whole, a 312% increase on 2020’s £4.8billion.  2022’s figure is unlikely to be lower.

But bills of that size could be shredded, the storage firm argues, given faster deployment of bigger batteries powerful enough to assist in grid stabilisation over as much as twenty-four hours, longer than the two-hour horizons offered by today’s predominant metal-based technologies.

Researchers based their estimates of wasted wind on Elexon’s stats on bid volumes for balancing markets and Ofgem’s historic gas price data.

Thanks to its expertise in cryogenics, Highview Power claims market leadership in today’s grid-ready technology aiding prolonged storage.  The firm plans to spend £10 billion in the UK alone over the next decade, building 20 grid-scale storage projects.

“Long duration energy storage can underpin the UK’s world leading position on renewables, accelerate the energy transition, create thousands of British clean energy jobs and skills, cut UK consumer bills and reduce our dependence on foreign gas,” said Highview CEO Rupert Pearce – pictured -, launching today’s study.

“Renewables are now the UK’s cheapest, most secure and most abundant form of energy”, Pearce went on.

“By storing more, we can power Britain’s homes and businesses with renewable green energy, taking millions of tonnes of carbon out of the atmosphere and ending a culture of reliance on expensive foreign imports”.

A CEO-level global working party of technologists and engineers, led by strategy consultants McKinsey, has been investigating long-duration power accommodation since 2021.

The post Lack of long-duration batteries “costs UK £60 Billion in four months”: and the Germans have a word for it appeared first on theenergyst.com.