Understanding frequency response markets in Great Britain: how battery storage brings balance to the Force

We all love renewable energy, but wind and solar are intermittent generation sources and they go into (largely) the same electricity system we used when steady Old King Coal still ruled Great Britain (GB). Supply and demand of electricity must be balanced and matched in real-time in order to maintain the stability of the electricity system. In GB, responsibility for this balancing lies with National Grid ESO as the system operator. This role is constantly evolving, as increases in intermittent generation make the balancing act ever harder to pull off.  

In response to these challenges, National Grid ESO has developed new processes, systems and service products in order to encourage new technologies, and in particular battery energy storage, to develop and participate. Batteries are used by National Grid ESO to provide two broad categories of service: “Response” – responding to a fault or unexpected large plant outage; and “Reserve” – providing backup to National Grid ESO which can be called upon in order to prevent a fault from occurring in the first place. Sounds simple enough? Well, it isn't- as our client Modo Energy rightly says, "from the recent launch of Dynamic Regulation, to the upcoming launch of Dynamic Moderation, as well as the changes to Dynamic Containment procurement and the planned retirement of the Firm Frequency Response service, there's just so much to stay on top of."  

But help is at hand! Join the Modo Energy team on Tuesday 26th April at 10:30am to find out everything you want to know about frequency response markets in Great Britain, but were too confused to ask...