First demand turn-up flexibility contracts awarded by UKPN

UK Power Networks (UKPN) has become the first distribution network operator (DNO) to award contracts for demand turn-up and generation turn-down as part of a regular flexibility tender.

The DNO said it awarded more than 1GW of contracts in total, including 991MW for demand turn-up/generation turn down. These providers will now compete on price to be dispatched to meet a flexibility requirement of 426MW.

UKPN said it rejected a small minority of bids that were deemed to be uneconomic. It said the new product will enable it to connect more renewable generation to its networks without spending substantial amounts of money on major reinforcements that may only be needed for a few hours each year.

Outside of innovation projects, the company said all previous DNO flexibility tenders have sought to procure demand turn-down/generation turn-up, for which UKPN awarded 73MW of contracts in its latest tender.

National Grid ESO also procured demand-turn up as part of its temporary Optional Downward Flexibility Management service, which was introduced to manage exceptionally summer demand during the early Coronavirus lockdown periods in 2020.

UKPN said its latest tender sought flexibility at more than a thousand sites for periods of up to two-and-a-half years ending in winter 2025/26.

In April, the company became the first DNO to launch an independent distribution system operator (DSO) as proposed in its RIIO ED2 business plan.

Sotiris Georgiopoulos, DSO director at UKPN, said: “This will be the decade when Net Zero becomes real for many of our customers; that means millions of new electric vehicles, heat pumps and other low carbon technologies like domestic solar and batteries. The DSO will make sure we are ready to accommodate that change, while keeping costs down for bill payers.”

“Tapping into customer flexibility means we can connect more renewable energy and low carbon technologies to the network. Our independent DSO, overseen by a board of industry experts, aims to give this new and fast-growing market confidence in the transparency of our investment decisions.”

Louis Fairfax, managing director of contracted flexibility provider CUB, said: “On the back of participating in the national Demand Flexibility Service, this is the first time we’re working with our customers to support local grid requirements.

“Working with UK Power Networks has been straightforward – we particularly value their accommodating, open and honest approach to this tender process ran through the Piclo system. I hope that this will be the first of many opportunities for our customers to support local grid decarbonisation.”