Flexibility Procurement Window Re-opened

We have re-opened the procurement window for the Exeter, Rugeley and South Hams/Plymouth Flexible Power zones which still have unfulfilled flexibility requirements. 

Organisations with the potential to shift demand away from peak periods or the ability to switch their consumption to on-site generation should register their interest via a formal Expression of Interest (EOI) process by 21 December 2018.  

Access to flexible services will increase the network’s available capacity without having to build additional infrastructure. This means we can reduce overall network expenditure, resulting in savings to all its customers. In turn, organisations that can be flexible with their existing assets have the ability to earn extra money.

Ben Godfrey, WPDs Network Strategy Team Manager, said: ‘The amount of flexibility needed on our network will increase as we distribute more energy from intermittent renewables and supply more energy to low carbon technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps. 

‘We are exploring a number of methods and platforms to widen our reach in the market, but it is clear that creating neutral markets around flexibility will help us run the network economically.

‘We’ll explore these options throughout the recruitment of our existing zones, and more so in the new batch of zones due to be announced in February 2019.’

Earlier this year we announced our decision to roll out the procurement of flexibility services to support areas of its network that have been identified as having technical constraints. Eighty-seven sites totalling 261MW of capacity responded to an initial EOI.  To date eight contracts totalling 28MW have been awarded and a further 120MW have the potential to proceed to contract; we are now exploring a number of ways to bring forward these participants.

Businesses who could offer flexibility in the Exeter, Rugeley and South Hams/Plymouth areas are being encouraged to submit an EOI form to wpdflexiblepower@westernpower.co.uk 

The EOI and further information can be found at www.flexiblepower.co.uk

New zones will be released for procurement in February 2019: register for updates at www.flexiblepower.co.uk/contact us to be notified when they go live.