Concerns raised over deliberate energy waste for flexibility

Concerns have been raised over the deliberate wasting of energy to provide flexibility after load banks – devices for creating dummy loads to test power supplies such as backup generators – were accepted into an ad hoc service to increase demand on the power grid.

The load banks were entered into the Optional Downward Flexibility Management (ODFM) service introduced by National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) as an emergency measure to deal with low demand on the power grid over the summer of 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the results document, a bid from an 8MW load bank unit for a 12-hour period on 23 May 2020 was accepted by the ESO at a rate of nearly £80/MW/hr.

The unit was entered by Habitat Energy on behalf of one of its clients. The company said although the bid was accepted, the unit did not provide the service as it was unavailable. Several other bids were rejected over subsequent days.

Speaking to Utility Week, Flexitricity founder and chief strategy officer Alistair Martin, said the ODFM service was “introduced in a rush” to manage the electricity system in “unprecedented circumstances.” As such, Martin said the ESO accepted whatever was available, including deliberate energy waste by a load bank, which he described as “a large heater with a big fan” that “just blows heat up into the sky”.

Martin said the introduction of the ODFM service, which was repeated for the summer of 2021, followed the ESO’s earlier trial of a Demand Turn-Up (DTU) service that sought to make beneficial use of surplus renewable energy by raising demand or lowering other generation.

“DTU was intended to be a model of a service that might go forward into business as usual. It didn’t for various imbalance-related reasons but as it was envisaged as a potential model for an ongoing service it did contain a stipulation that deliberate energy waste should not apply.

“They had no protections about that and National Grid in its capacity as an independent procurer of these things would have had some difficulty in enforcing this, but it did at least establish the precedent that for an ongoing commercial service deliberate energy waste is not a good thing.”

Martin said there was no such stipulation for the ODFM service, adding: “If something comes on that follows on the heels of ODFM to create a negative reserve – a footroom-type service – those who have participated in ODFM will obviously consider themselves to be viable contributors to any future negative reserve service, and so, having established that load banks could do this, there is a danger that they could do this again.”

“What I’m really concerned about is that deliberate energy waste is going to be used a tool to manage high renewable generation, which is a reputational hit on the green energy industry,” he added.

“It would be terribly destructive if something like that was to be established as a commercial activity. I have a very, very deep loathing of this concept as something that might make it into ongoing procurement.”

He also noted the potential for other forms of energy waste to provide downward flexibility, for example, turning on all the lights in an office when they are not being used.

In the long run, Martin said genuine demand turn-up should outcompete energy waste because of the additional value it can provide, but warned: “In the short term, it can’t because all such things require a bit of investment.”

He said the issue highlights the need for reliable revenue streams to enable this investment.

Martin said the ESO may need regulation from Ofgem or legislation from the government to enforce the exclusion of deliberate energy waste from flexibility services.

Responding to his concerns, a spokesperson for the ESO said: “In 2020, Covid created an unprecedented demand suppression environment. Optional Downward Flexibility Management was developed urgently and specifically as a last-resort service to ensure security of electricity supply in the event of a national emergency.

“The new service was launched rapidly, was validated by independent energy experts DNV, and was designed so that the pricing model would make it harder for ‘fake’ loads to be economical. We’re always open to feedback on the service as part of our commitment to providing a world-leading reliable, safe and affordable electricity system in the UK.”