A coalition of battery storage builders representing a major 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 Vitality and Discipline Vitality – has come collectively because the ESO prepares to transition into the brand new Nationwide Vitality System Operator (NESO). This new public physique will likely be liable for serving to to ship the Authorities’s goal of a web zero energy grid by 2030.
In a letter to the ESO, the coalition has mentioned the continuing subject of constraint skips is “holding back investment and driving up consumer bills”, all whereas risking the 2030 goal.
Proper now, when there may be an excessive amount of wind energy and the system is unable to move it elsewhere, the Electrical energy System Operator (ESO) has a selection. Essentially the most easy 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.
In the present day, nevertheless, the ESO is constantly underusing – ‘skipping’ – batteries. Even when batteries are the most affordable and quickest answer to satisfy the wants of the GB grid, the ESO favours costlier choices too steadily.
The coalition’s personal knowledge exhibits that batteries are being omitted 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 problem of constraint skips.
In resolving the problem of constraint skips, the coalition say the Authorities can minimize 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 subject doesn’t require main new funding or infrastructure. With extra transparency and engagement with trade, we will repair this shortly.
“The Authorities has a chance to chop payments and emissions by guaranteeing that grid-scale batteries are being correctly utilised and that the market is match for goal.
“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 Vitality, 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 look ahead to working with the Authorities, the ESO and Ofgem to handle 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.”
