Ev.energy has won a tender to provide flexibility services to UK Power Networks (UKPN) using electric vehicles (EVs).
It is the first time domestic EVs have won a commercial tender, ev.energy said, with UKPN accepting 14 bids from the company.
The contract was won during UKPN’s latest tender, the results of which were announced last week. As part of this, UKPN awarded £14 million worth of contracts, securing 123MW of flexible power in its biggest ever flexibility tender.
Ev.energy lauded the ability of EVs to help balance the grid through smart charging, with its app automatically scheduling EV charging away from peak periods. The app ensures cars are charged when they are needed, with the driver setting a ‘ready by’ time, as well as offering a boost button to override the schedule, it said.
The company has over 25MW of EV load on its platform, something that William Goldsmith, ev.energy’s head commercial of grid services, said put it “in an excellent position to deliver flexibility services to the UK’s power grid”.
“UK Power Networks’ collaborative approach has been a great help in enabling newer flexibility technologies like electric vehicle charging to access these markets.”
Ev.energy has worked with UKPN previously, as one of the companies involved in the DNO’s project Shift, which was designed to investigate the scalability and cost saving potential of smart charging for grid operators and customers.
Sotiris Georgiopoulos, head of Smart Grid Development at UK Power Networks said: “UK Power Networks believe that smart charging will bring many benefits to customers and help enable the EV uptake.
“We are delighted to be working with innovative flexibility providers such as ev.energy to provide the first DSO revenues for domestic households.”
