Project FALCON's first Demand Side Response call is hailed a success

As part of energy regulator Ofgem’s Low Carbon Networks Fund, we are testing new technologies and ways of running the electricity system, commonly referred to as Smart Grid development. 

One of the UK’s leading demonstration projects is called FALCON, taking place in Milton Keynes and the surrounding area.  It tests a variety of alternative techniques to manage network restrictions in order to develop tools for future network design. One of the techniques being tested involves working with businesses that are able to reduce their electricity use at certain times of the day and in turn receive a payment from WPD. This is known as the Demand Side Response (DSR). 

On Thursday 28 November, we issued the first DSR call to trial participants in areas of Milton Keynes.  Initial results have confirmed the trial was successful with around 10MWh of energy turndown recorded by monitoring equipment installed at substations across the city.  Local generators owned by customers that are normally only used for emergency backup were dispatched by us reducing the electricity drawn from the local grid.   The trial also called on the operators of Milton Keynes’ District heating network to run up their spare gas fired generator to support local supplies. 

This DSR call was the first in a series of tests running throughout the winter season.  The exact programme will be determined by our engineers who prepare daily predictions of future peak usage based on data such as consumption trends and local weather forecasts. 

Roger Hey, the Future Networks Manager at WPD said: “Electricity network maximum usage typically occurs around winter teatime when customers use more lights and turn up their heating. Having DSR arrangements in place could allow WPD to defer or even avoid network upgrades, which would otherwise be necessary as customers adopt low carbon technologies such as electric cars and heat pumps. Our project FALCON Demand Side Response trials are key to establishing where such techniques could be used in towns and cities across the UK.”