Battery software services provider Arenko and National Grid ESO are trialling a new upward and downward reserve flexibility service, using Arenko’s 41MW Bloxwich battery – the first time a battery has been able to augment existing upward and downward reserve services, which are usually provided by traditional thermal power plant.
NGESO is currently seeking extra flexibility from power assets to help manage the unprecedented levels of low demand during the Covid-19 pandemic and has introduced a new product, Optional Downward Flexibility Management, to help provide ‘footroom’ in operating the system. It called on around 250MW of footroom during the early May bank holiday weekend.
Arenko has designed a new software module to complement its existing platform that can increase the amount of upward and downward reserve that could be secured from battery assets. It uses an approach similar to NGESO’s instructions in the Balancing Market to start up thermal plant or access upward and downward reserve on a gas turbine, mirroring the instruction approach, availability payment, and utilisation payment that is currently available to thermal plant.
NGESO is trialling the system this week. It wants to gain greater understanding of how battery storage assets operate, how it can better access the flexibility that they can provide, and what operational processes and commercial structures would need to be in place to develop this into business as usual. It said all the lessons from the trial will be made available to the industry.
Arenko said the trial represents a further potential commercial opportunity for its battery clients to use its software platform to provide a new service.
Read the National Grid ESO statement : https://bit.ly/2yXayvv.
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