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The government has announced it is working with National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) to explore how best to enable electric vehicles to take part in the Capacity Market.
Back in September, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) issued an open letter inviting stakeholders to identify technologies that can contribute towards security of supply but are not currently eligible to participate.
Replying in another, BEIS said the 14 responses it received highlighted two new technologies that are not currently covered by a generating technology class – geothermal and tidal. BEIS noted that: “At present, both technologies appear to not be commercially viable in Great Britain without other forms of financial support from government, therefore it will be some time before they are ready to enter the CM (Capacity Market).”
Nevertheless, BEIS said it has raised the need for de-rating factors for geothermal and tidal generation with the ESO: “Developing de-rating factors for these technologies will not only enable projects to access the CM when ready, it will also enable us to accurately account for their contributions to security of supply in our auction targets, in the event they are supported through other mechanisms.”
BEIS said the ESO’s Future Energy Scenarios already include the technologies and basic assumptions about their contribution to security of supply. It said it may be possible to use these assumptions as a starting point to develop interim de-rating factors should a project come forward sooner than expected.
The department said it is confident the other technologies raised by respondents can already access the Capacity Market through the existing classes: compressed air storage, offshore storage and electrolysers with fuel cells could all be entered as storage, whilst hydrogen-fired generation and power stations with carbon capture and storage could be entered under the relevant gas generation classes.
Refencing a suggestion by one respondent that there should be a “flexible hydro” class to rewards plants that can provide additional systems benefits, BEIS said: “The CM does not have rewarding flexibility as an objective and so these changes would not be appropriate.”
One technology “not raised by stakeholders” but which it believes “warrants further consideration” is electric vehicles connected to the power grid.
BEIS said it is necessary to examine both how they can participate themselves and how they are accounted for in the auctions targets: “We are engaging with the ESO on how best to consider this technology and enable its participation in the CM.”
There was disagreement between respondents as to whether the co-location of technologies in different classes had a significant impact on their cumulate contribution to security of supply. On this basis, BEIS said it is not pursuing the idea of creating hybrid capacity market units at this stage.
The department acknowledged suggestions the de-rating factor for solar photovoltaics should be reviewed to reflect the growing prevalence of panels aligned east-west rather than north-south as has traditionally been the case, saying it has shared the comments with the ESO.
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