Grid encourages more plant shutdowns
15 Dec 2014
National Grid is encouraging more energy-intensive businesses to reduce their demand when electricity supplies are constrained.
Having already launched its Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR) scheme in September, the grid operator is now launching dedicated demand-response version of its Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR) scheme.
We’re aiming for 200MW of our next tender round to come exclusively from demand side response
National Grid’s Duncan Burt
Many plant owners already take part in STOR via electricity aggregators, and to encourage this National Grid has committed to 200MW of capacity in its next STOR tender round being dedicated to demand response providers, as opposed to the electricity generators that make up the bulk of STOR’s 2GW capacity.
“At the moment, we get more tenders to STOR than we need, which is positive as it drives down costs,” said National Grid head of commercial operations Duncan Burt.
“On the flip side makes it harder for new demand side entrants to get involved, as they have to sign up companies or sites willing to reduce demand with no guarantee they will get paid for it. That’s why we’re aiming for 200MW of our next tender round (for delivery during 2015/16) to come exclusively from demand side response. We’ve called this STOR Runway, as it helps new entrants get off the ground.”
The Invitation to Tender for STOR Runway was issue on Friday, and companies interested in participating can find out more information here.
Tenders must be submitted by 16 January 2015.
