NGED to award first demand turn-up, generation turn-down contracts

We are offering demand turn-up and generation turn-down contracts, for the first time as part of our flexibility requirements this winter.

Three locations in the South West, South Wales and the Midlands are available totalling 2,811MWh as part of our next round of procurement that opened this week.

These new contracts are aimed at owners or operators of flexible assets which can be available to turn-up demand or turn-down generation within a day’s notice to help our Distribution Systems Operator balance its grid.

Helen Sawdon, NGED’s DSO Flexibility Commercial Manager, said: “Our new demand turn-up generation turn-down opportunities will help match the volume of energy demand with the volume of energy being generated, incentivising energy consumers to use electricity at times when it’s in abundance – for example a sunny day where there lots of solar generation. We’re trialling this in three locations this year and hope to roll it out wider in the future.”

We are also seeking demand turn-down and generation turn-up flexibility agreements at more than 800 locations, many of which will be suitable for domestic customers with EV chargers, battery storage or heat pumps.

There are opportunities for domestic participation in 744 low voltage zones, equating to a peak of 21.9MW. In high voltage locations there are 64 opportunities, equating to a peak of 241MW.

High voltage requirements have a market value of £7 million in availability payments and offers further payment when called upon to deliver, while low voltage requirements’ – which are scheduled in advance – total £1.15 million in market value.

The window to bid for a flexibility contract is open now and will run until Monday 4 November on our Market Gateway. Full datasets of our flexibility requirements can be found on our Connected Data Portal.