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National Grid has awarded SSE a £6 million contract to keep Peterhead gas-fired power station on the system, it announced on Monday.
Under the one-year agreement, SSE will be required to provide up to 780MW of Peterhead’s 1180MW capacity at 24 hours’ notice. The power plant will no longer take part in the market.
The deal is to reduce network risk and maintain stable voltage in the Aberdeenshire area. A National Grid spokesman said the system operator could manage without Peterhead but considered it “prudent” to have it as a back-up option.
It is a separate measure to the supplemental balancing reserve (SBR) proposed by National Grid to make sure there is adequate supply over the coming winters, when the amount of spare capacity on the system is set to fall.
SSE may tender Peterhead for the SBR but cannot hold both contracts simultaneously; if the company decides to take part in the SBR it will have to give up the contract for voltage control.
SSE is continuing to invest £15 million in improving Peterhead’s flexibility and efficiency. It is also pursuing a commercial scale carbon capture and storage plant at the site, in partnership with Shell, as part of a £1 billion government programme.
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