UK Power Networks reveals flexibility auction results

UK Power Networks has awarded contracts worth £450,000 to six companies as part of its second tender for flexibility services.

The distribution network operator (DNO) said the auction, which was hosted on the Piclo Flex platform, was the UK’s largest to date, securing 18.2MW of capacity across eight locations.

Barry Hatton, director of asset management at UK Power Networks (UKPN), said: “Flexibility offers a wealth of opportunities for the energy resources connected to our network like wind and solar plants, but also demand-side response to help us create an open, transparent and accountable new market for their services.

“All of the bids we accepted in this tender round met our robust economic criteria to ensure they will benefit our customers by offering lower costs in comparison to the traditional approach of building new assets. The UK is a world-leader in smart grid technology and flexibility has a key role to play as we move towards a decarbonised, decentralised and digitised network that will offer significant benefits to our customers.”

The contracts vary in length from one to four years and were awarded for the following locations:

• Brandon
• Leighton Buzzard
• Lewes Newhaven
• Lithos
• Merton
• Mill Hill
• Romney Warren
• St Helier

The auction was the first in a series announced by UK Power Networks in February. The company said it planned to spend up to £12 million procuring flexibility services at 28 locations in the South East and East of England

The previous tender was conducted as part of a government-sponsored trial of Piclo Flex that involved all six DNOs in Great Britain. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks became the first DNO to sign up to the platform on a commercial basis at the end of March.