EDF Energy has collaborated with tech firm Upside Energy and renewables asset holder Anesco to introduce the energy sector’s first guaranteed floor price for battery storage.
The energy giant has penned an agreement with Anesco which will see the latter’s subsidy-free solar-plus-storage Clayhill project, completed in September 2017, added to EDF’s PowerShift demand side response platform.
EDF will use the platform to make decisions on whether to consume or sell energy based on real-time wholesale prices and other market signals and assess the viability of new business models for other flexible generation assets.
Vincent de Rul, director of energy solutions at EDF Energy, said the companies had been working closely over the past few months to develop the contract structure, describing it as a “crucial” step towards balancing renewable generation on the grid.
The creation of the industry’s first guaranteed floor price for battery storage is a potentially significant milestone, given how flexible generation developers have so far struggled to argue the real value of the flexibility they can offer to the country’s networks.
One of the key takeaways from last month’s Energy Storage Summit, organised by Current± publisher Solar Media, was that the industry had yet to determine the appropriate value of the services they can provide, an issue not helped by an apparent lack of transparency within the balancing markets.
Energy tech firm Upside Energy is to work on the project and Devrim Celal, chief executive at the company, said pioneering digital solutions like PowerShift stood to shape the future of the energy market.
“This is an exciting, new opportunity at Clayhill to further enhance the business case for renewable energy and play a central role in the future of energy in the UK.”
