In the evolving world of energy management, battery energy storage systems have emerged as versatile tools not only for efficient energy use but also as a way for businesses to earn additional revenue.
We spoke to Nigel Dent, our Head of Sales, about the new Demand Flexibility Service launched last year.
For many years, our customers have been using their battery energy storage to participate in grid balancing services – a service that they can be paid for by the national grid. This allows organisations to generate additional revenues during periods of peak demand. And now a new revenue stream – Demand Flexibility Services – makes things even easier.
Demand Flexibility Services (or DFS for short) was introduced in the UK last year and is again in operation over these winter months.
The scheme allows both commercial and domestic customers to be incentivised by voluntarily agreeing to reduce the electricity they take from the grid at particular times of high demand over the winter months. This typically tends to be weekdays between 4pm to 9pm.
It’s a game-changer in the energy sector by allowing users to be paid for providing a service that contributes to ensuring the country has the energy supply it needs to meet demand.
Battery energy storage plays a pivotal role in enabling demand flexibility by storing excess energy during periods of low demand and releasing it during peak hours so that a site does not have to draw from the grid.
By participating in this service, sites can store energy from solar or direct from the grid at off-peak times which is then used during pre-arranged hours of participation.
Recent calculations show that organisations participating in the DFS market can generate up to £15,000 over the winter months with just one of our 300kW systems.
Connected Energy works with aggregators who can facilitate this service making it easy for organisations to participate. Any site wishing to participate will sign a contract with an aggregator and a unit will be installed onto their site to facilitate this.
To participate, the DSO only requires a site to participate in twelve to sixteen cycles during the winter months – which means that the battery can still be used on site as normal at all other times.
Any organisation that is signed up to participate will then be given advanced notice of any requirements. The business is then able to voluntarily agree to reduce their demand at the specified time.
To be eligible, a business must:
Have access to half hourly metering
Not be participating in any other services or trials such as short-term operating reserve, frequency response, the capacity mechanism or DNO/DSO services.
Demonstrate the capability to respond for a minimum of 30 minutes following advanced notice.
For existing customers: get in touch with our sales team via this email address and we can arrange to speak to an aggregator on your behalf.
For new customers: if you’re thinking about battery energy storage for a site, this new scheme can help to reduce the overall cost of ownership by factoring in revenue generation into a business case.
Get in touch via this email address and we can arrange for a feasibility study to showcase returns on investment.
