Northern Powergrid is to procure flexibility for network resilience via a dynamic purchasing system and e-auction.
Claiming the first auction for such services by a UK distribution network operator (DNO), the company will conclude each competition with a reverse e-auction to procure flexibility from customer-led assets. In this format the auctioneer incrementally raises the price in set time periods from a low starting point until bidders agree to sell.
The scheme, named Restore Flexibility, will help the operator manage the network on occasions when it experiences network faults. In such cases customers will be paid a price per MWh, set by the auction, to shift their energy consumption temporarily or flex their generation assets after receiving an instruction from the DNO.
Firms across seven locations will bid to be in a position to provide flexibility, with the aim of procuring up to 100MW of capacity in total. The locations are: St Andrews Road (Huddersfield), Staygate (West Yorkshire), Wold Newton (East Yorkshire), Featherstone (West Yorkshire), Greatham (County Durham), Denwick (Northumberland) and Guisborough (North Yorkshire).
Northern Powergrid is especially interested to hear from:
- major energy users (such as factories or supermarkets that can engage in demand side response),
- power generators (minimum 100kW),
- aggregators of smaller assets, and
- storage operators.
Prospective providers can register to participate at Northern Powergrid’s e-Tendering portal, by selecting ‘opportunities’. When a final contract has been awarded, the successful bidders will enter a pool of assets that can be instructed to turn up (generators) or down (demand side response) to support a stable power supply in the region.
Further reading
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