The two companies have signed a four-year contract that will see RES provide 20 MW of frequency response from battery storage. This is a new service which will assist National Grid in performing its system balancing role, which increasingly requires innovation and the deployment of new technologies. The services delivered by RES’ battery storage systems will be fully operational within 18 months, providing cost effective frequency response to the grid within one second of the detection of a frequency deviation.
RES and National Grid have been working together to design this service since 2014. The work has served as a forerunner to National Grid’s upcoming tender for 200 MW of Enhanced Frequency Response. As the price of battery energy storage has fallen in line with gigawatt scale deployment in the stationary energy storage and electric vehicle fields, such services are now reducing electricity costs for consumers across global markets. RES has already commissioned six similar projects in North America.
“This is the first time that battery storage will be used to provide such fast-acting frequency response service to the National Transmission Network in Great Britain” said Adam Sims, Senior Account Manager at National Grid. “This innovative technology will enable us to respond to frequency issues in under a second, helping to maintain the integrity of the grid. This service and the forthcoming Enhanced Frequency Response service will support the network as we transition to a generation mix with greater levels of low cost renewable energy.”
John Prendergast, Energy Storage Manager at RES, added that the company is delighted to be working with National Grid, having previously pioneered the delivery of very fast frequency services in Canada and being one of the largest providers of such services in the US. Developing such a service with National Grid is a major step in the development of the company’s energy storage business within the UK.
The development of energy storage will play a large role in supporting the UK’s transition to a secure, low-carbon, low-cost, energy system, particularly given the increasing deployment of renewables across the country. RES believes that the new contract will help to demonstrate this while also encouraging policymakers and regulators to accelerate the removal of barriers to wider deployment of energy storage in the UK.
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