The distribution system operator (DSO) arm of UK Power Networks (UKPN) has revealed that its day-ahead flexibility market has delivered 4.4GWh of power since April last year.
UKPN’s day-ahead flexibility market allows participants with EVS, heat pumps, and home energy storage systems to participate in distribution, transmission, and wholesale energy markets. Over 40 flexibility zones are now open and the network has operated over 150 flexibility competitions since April last year.
Previously, the DSO ran flexibility tenders twice per year, but last year’s opening of the day-ahead market has proven successful in allowing a wider range of participants to get involved in flexibility systems.
UKPN collaborated with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) and aligned itself to its transmission balancing markets to help participants make informed choices about their participation in the markets. One way this is achieved is that UKPN announces its auction results before participants need to decide their availability for subsequent NESO day-ahead auctions.
Additionally, UKPN uses an advanced forecasting model that predicts network usage with what it calls “unprecedented accuracy” to ensure that flexibility services can be aligned with the network’s needs. Participants use the Localflex platform, which is operated by EPEX SPOT and streamlines bidding, trading, and settlement processes across multiple markets.
Alex Howard, head of flexibility markets at UK Power Networks’ DSO, said that the goal of the new platform was to open the flexibility marketplace to as many potential users as possible. Howard added: “By offering providers more opportunities to engage and aligning services with NESO schedules, we’re helping to build a smarter, more adaptable energy network that supports our net zero future.”
Caspar Ruane, head of asset management (grid flexibility) at AMP Clean Energy, one of the largest flexibility providers on UKPN’s network, celebrated the success of the day-ahead flexibility market, noting that it had allowed the company to significantly expand its service provision. Ruane added that the “business aims to provide grid-constrained areas with electricity during peak times, when and where it’s needed”.
UKPN recently announced another collaboration with NESO that aims to streamline energy market access. Late last month, the DSO announced that it had spent two years working with the NESO on Megawatt Dispatch, which integrates distributed energy resource (DER) assets to control centres using advanced cloud and web API based technologies.
Since its launch, five sites with both generation and storage assets have joined the service; UKPN and NESO claim that the Megawatt Dispatch platform will allow assets to connect to the network years sooner than without the platform.
