UK industrial and commercial (I&C) businesses may be able to provide up to 3GW of demand reduction and 1.9GW of demand turn-up to help meet the need for flexibility and balance electricity supply and demand, according to research by regulator Ofgem.
In order to offer that flexibility, businesses want upfront ‘availability’ payments, rather than being paid when they respond. They also want easier market access, longer term contracts, less costly metering requirements and the ability to ‘stack’ revenue by offering different services.
The figures came from a survey carried out by the regulator among I&C companies, some of which already provide flexibility to the system, aimed at assessing the total potential. The survey found that there was “untapped flexibility potential” among companies already providing response and those that had not yet taken advantage of the opportunity.
For almost half the businesses surveyed there was little or no financial incentive that coudl make them offer response. Those willing to consider responding wanted more understanding of the market – and especially how they could ensure it could be guaranteed not to damage their core business.
Aggregators could help address these issues – they converted more conversations to contracts than did suppliers, National Grid (through its Power Responsive initiative) or distribution network operators – but some complained they took too high a payment, or were not transparent.
Read the report and respond here
Further reading:
Fear of disruption limits DSR uptake
National Grid has attracted just a fraction of its target in a new demand response product (members only)
Decc: a flexible energy system could save billions by 2050 (members only)
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