REstore NV, the leading European demand response aggregator in the fast-growing European Primary Reserve / Frequency control market, has signed a landmark Framework Agreement with National Grid to provide Dynamic Firm Frequency Response (DFFR) using demand response.
Following the agreement, REstore successfully bid a portfolio of 22MW in the December 2014 auction, for delivery of power to National Grid in January 2015. REstore’s 22MW portfolio comprises sheddable load drawn solely from the UK’s 50 largest industrial energy consumers; including UPM, Sahaviriya Steel Industries UK, Barclays, and two of the UK’s largest steelworks.
Historically, DFFR has mostly been provided by closed-cycle gas turbines spinning at around 80% of their maximum capacity so they can increase or decrease power in seconds, responding to frequency deviations in the grid between 49.5 – 50.5Hz.
REstore’s patent-protected software platform Flexpond offers a new and exciting way to balance the grid frequency that doesn’t rely on gas turbines. REstore has advanced its software platform to the stage where it can actively manage a portfolio of industrial consumers in real-time, creating a ‘virtual’ gas turbine that delivers power to National Grid that is proportional to the frequency deviation, all in less than 10 seconds. This provides exactly the same results as a gas turbine, but without the expense and high carbon footprint. REstore is the only demand response aggregator in the UK and continental Europe able to exactly replicate a gas turbine’s ability to match pace with grid frequency deviations.
Pieter-Jan Mermans, co-CEO of REstore, said: “Industrial consumers usually participate in Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR) and find it difficult to access the most lucrative dynamic FFR market, as they are rarely able to meet the grid operators’ strict requirements. By joining an actively-managed aggregator’s portfolio, industrial consumers are able to participate in the highest-paying reserve in the balancing market, which is worth up to four times as much per MW/year than STOR.”
REstore has a proven track record in Primary Reserve / Frequency Response in Europe, with over 80MW of primary reserve power under management and a penalty-free delivery record. Customers include National Grid (UK), Elia (Belgium), and EDF. The Primary Reserve / Frequency Response market is worth up to £1bn of annual revenue in Europe.
Following the framework agreement, REstore will continue recruiting commercial and industrial customers to participate in DFFR throughout 2015.
