Ovo announces partnership to use domestic storage heaters for grid flexibility

Ovo has announced plans to unlock the flexibility of the UK’s million homes with electric storage heaters, in a partnership between its intelligent grid technology company Kaluza and Glen Dimplex Heating and Ventilation, which has a 90% share of the UK electric storage heating market.

Announcing the deal, Ovo said that the 1.7 million homes with electric storage heating are the largest grid-connected storage asset in the UK, with a combined capacity of 12GW. The ability to use this capacity flexibly reduces the need for back-up generation and investment to reinforce and expand the energy network. Kaluza is a highly scalable technology that has the potential to aggregate limitless numbers of storage devices – such as electric heaters, in-home batteries and electric vehicles – to produce an enormous amount of flexible load and it can unlock the flexibility in Dimplex’s Quantum high heat retention storage heaters, the company said.

Ovo Energy will now make Dimplex Quantum high heat retention storage heaters and Dimplex Q-Rad electric radiators available for customers to purchase through its website and schedule an electrician to install the heater and disposal of old heaters.

Further reading

OPINION: It’s time to act on decarbonising heat

Centrica invests in home energy management startups

From the archive: how can we decarbonise heat?

Bristol Energy joins Energy Systems Catapult to offer ‘heat as a service’