GridBeyond is to become the first company to enable industrial and commercial (I&C) access to Dynamic Containment.
National Grid ESO’s Dynamic Containment auctions form part of the system operator’s new balancing services, providing a sub-second, post-fault service to ensure electricity demand can be met even in the event of trips and other such faults.
GridBeyond’s hybrid battery and demand network will allow I&C businesses to participate in the daily auctions, despite many not having battery storage on site. While storage is not essential for participation in the auctions, the demanding nature of Dynamic Containment has meant since its launch in October, only battery providers have been participating.
I&C demand assets are connected with batteries through the company’s network, to create a hybridised unit capable of delivering the response required within Dynamic Containment.
The company is now finalising internal tests on its first unit to go to market, following which it is intending to start placing I&C clients’ demand assets in National Grid’s auctions.
Padraig Curran, CTO and co-founder at GridBeyond explained that while batteries offer a great level of flexibility, that can come at a high cost.
“For many I&C businesses, the installation of a battery on their site will not be a viable option, particularly in the current economic situation. However, a hybrid unit that is made up of both battery and demand assets is far more cost effective and gives our clients the fundamental economic advantage of participating in the most lucrative balancing services. All without any capital expenditure or impact on their operational integrity.”
At a rate of £17/MW/h, Dynamic Containment is by far the most financially rewarding of the three schemes launched by National Grid to replace Fast Frequency Response as a balancing service at the beginning of October.
However, despite aims to source 500MW a day, the challenges of participating meant only 90MW of fast response service from two batteries were initially successful. While more tenders have now been accepted, there is a lot of potential for companies wishing to participate in the service.
“GridBeyond is committed to ensuring our clients and partners are not restrained by any technological barriers and can benefit from the most financially rewarding programmes, which also happen to be the most effective in securing grid stability too,” commented Michael Phelan, CEO and co-founder at GridBeyond.
“This is particularly important now, during times of economic uncertainty when many businesses look for new ways to protect their bottom line. Energy technologies, particularly those that provide fast access to long term revenue streams, can help businesses to recover some of the revenues lost due to COVID-19.”
GridBeyond launched it’s hybrid battery and demand network in February 2018 on its intelligent energy platform Point. In January 2019, it received £9 million in a funding round, with investments from the likes of ESB and Total, allowing it to further expand its offering.
The company recently released a new tool – Energy Opportunity Calculator – which is designed to help I&C businesses learn how much they could save through demand response and energy optimisation.
