National Grid ESO has announced the first live Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) event, as tight margins and a temperature drop push the operator to take additional measures.
The event will run from 17:00 to 18:00 today (23 January), with 323MW required over the first half an hour period and 336MW required over the second.
“Our forecasts show electricity supply margins are expected to be tighter than normal on Monday evening,” said an ESO spokesperson.
“We have instructed coal-fired power units to be available to increase electricity supplies should it be needed tomorrow evening. We are also activating a Live Demand Flexibility Service event between 5-6pm tomorrow. This does not mean electricity supplies are at risk and people should not be worried. These are precautionary measures to maintain the buffer of spare capacity we need.”
The first live use of DFS follows nine test events since November, including one last week when the operator put out a call for 150MW of flexibility per half an hour between 09:00 and 10:00 on 19 January.
On 17 January, the ESO ran an event with a target 100MW per half an hour between 17:30 and 18:30.
Date |
From (GMT) |
To (GMT) |
DFS Required (MW) |
DFS Procured (MW) |
DFS Provider Bids Accepted Total Cost (£) |
DO DFS Procured (MW) |
D0 DFS Provider Bids Accepted Total Cost (£) |
19-Jan |
09:00:00 |
09:30:00 |
150 |
208.42 |
312629 |
208.42 |
312629 |
19-Jan |
09:30:00 |
10:00:00 |
150 |
206.66 |
309983 |
206.66 |
309983 |
17-Jan |
17:30:00 |
18:00:00 |
100 |
55.89 |
83835 |
55.89 |
83835 |
17-Jan |
18:00:00 |
18:30:00 |
100 |
56.89 |
85335 |
56.89 |
85335 |
This was the first DFS test of 2023 after a flurry of events during the end of November and into early December during the cold weather snap. Over 780MWh of real and projected demand reduction has been provided over the first five DFS tests, which ran on 15 November, 22 November, 30 November,1 December and 12 December.
Following these the ESO ran the sixth test on 20 December, and the seventh on 23 December, both with a target of 100MW per half an hour.
National Grid ESO did put out a notification stating there might be another DFS test today on 22 January, ahead of cancelling this and announcing the first live event.
Beyond DFS, the operator also instructed coal units to warm in anticipation of the tight margins over the evening peak. These were subsequently stood down, with DFS set to be the key action in managing the tight system margins.
Both the DFS and contingency coal contracts were set out in National Grid ESO’s Winter Outlook report, wherein the operator stated it was “cautiously confident” despite the expected challenges of this winter that it could keep the lights on.
The use of the coal units counts is the last ‘Enhanced Action’ open to the operator ahead of having to resort to emergency measures. These were set out by the ESO at its Autumn Markets Forum in September.
National Grid ESO signed contracts with Drax, EDF and Uniper earlier in the year to give an additional 2.5GW of buffer capacity from coal units that were scheduled to come offline.
The cost of these contracts is set to be between £340 million and £395 million, subject to the procurement and use of the coal.
Name |
Volume |
Date |
West Burton A (EDF) |
2 x 400MW |
1 Oct 2022 – 31 Mar 2023 |
Drax |
2 x 570MW |
1 Oct 2022 – 31 Mar 2023 |
Ratcliffe (Uniper) |
1 x 480MW |
Nov 2022 – 31 Mar 2023 |