A coalition of battery storage builders representing a big share of the UK market have written an open letter to the Authorities and the Electrical energy System Operator (ESO), calling for a decision to ongoing market points and to “recognise battery storage as critical to Britain’s national energy infrastructure”, in accordance with a 17 September assertion.
The coalition – comprised of Zenobē, Eelpower, Concord Power and Discipline Power – has come collectively because the ESO prepares to transition into the brand new Nationwide Power System Operator (NESO). This new public physique will likely be liable for serving to to ship the Authorities’s goal of a internet zero energy grid by 2030.
In a letter to the ESO, the coalition has mentioned the continued concern of constraint skips is “holding back investment and driving up consumer bills”, all whereas risking the 2030 goal.
Proper now, when there’s an excessive amount of wind energy and the system is unable to move it elsewhere, the Electrical energy System Operator (ESO) has a alternative. Probably the most simple choice is to both flip off the wind generators or retailer this extra power in batteries. The cheaper choice is commonly to make use of battery storage.
Right now, nevertheless, the ESO is persistently underusing – ‘skipping’ – batteries. Even when batteries are the most cost effective and quickest resolution to fulfill the wants of the GB grid, the ESO favours costlier choices too steadily.
The coalition’s personal information exhibits that batteries are being ignored 90% of the time throughout constraint intervals for some websites. The letter spells out the results of this, with “consumers paying more, clean renewable energy being wasted and fossil fuel generation used instead.”
With grid constraints set to price customers greater than £2 billion a 12 months by 2030, and investor confidence “dwindling”, the coalition desires to work with Authorities, the ESO and Ofgem to urgently repair the difficulty of constraint skips.
In resolving the difficulty of constraint skips, the coalition say the Authorities can reduce shopper payments and provides traders the boldness to spend money on the UK’s power transformation shifting forwards.
James Basden, Founding father of Zenobē, mentioned: “Funding in batteries doesn’t want cash from the Authorities. But it surely does require a market that works correctly, and this isn’t presently the case.
“Fixing this concern doesn’t require main new funding or infrastructure. With extra transparency and engagement with trade, we will repair this rapidly.
“The Authorities has a possibility to chop payments and emissions by making certain that grid-scale batteries are being correctly utilised and that the market is match for function.
“As a coalition, we are ready to work together with the Government, the ESO and Ofgem to urgently fix this long-standing issue and reduce the consistently high levels of constraint skips we are seeing.”
Peter Kavanagh, CEO of Concord Power, mentioned: “Pressing motion on Balancing Mechanism skips is required if we’re to ship a sustainable future for Britain.
“As a part of this coalition, we stay up for working with the Authorities, the ESO and Ofgem to deal with the systemic challenges affecting our power grid.
“If we get this right, we can unlock investment and deliver value for consumers right across the UK.”
