The Thurcroft battery will be monitored remotely from Flexitiricity’s control room and dispatched dynamically both in the UK wholesale markets and in line with National Grid’s balancing mechanism. Hereby, the battery is also capable of providing frequency response services to help regulate the UK electricity system frequency in face of higher renewable energy supply, and keep it within safe operating levels.
As one of Europe’s largest batteries, the Thurcroft lithium-ion battery adds to the 1 GW energy storage capacity installed in the UK and will help National Grid ESO balance electricity demand with rising volumes of flexible supply from weather-dependent wind and solar power source.
For Flexitricity, the order win to grid-optimize Thurcroft comes on the heels of a similar contract with the Gresham House Fund for their Noriker Staunch energy project.
“Gresham House has plans to grow its energy storage portfolio significantly. We are aiming for more than 360 MW in operational assets by the end of 2020,” said managing director, Ben Guest. Great Britain, in his view, requires at least 10 GW of additional energy storage capacity in the next four years to enable the transition to a renewables-led electricity market. “The UK has an ambition to achieve net zero by 2050 and it is our aim to contribute to this meaningfully, while achieving strong returns for our investors,” he stressed.
Flexitricity, part of the Swiss energy service provider Alpiq Group, has created and now operates the largest demand-response portfolio in Britain. Over the past ten years, the Edinburg-based company has combined several grid-scale and behind-the-meter battery storage projects to a virtual power plant. On April 23, 2020, the company completed the first ever trade in the UK balancing mechanism with its virtual battery storage system, a milestone for the industry.