Kaluza works with Scottish wind farm to provide flexibility for national grid

Through ODFM, NGESO can procure wind farms and other renewable generators to switch off when demand drops significantly, to help balance the grid. For renewable generators, it marks the first of a growing number of NGESO market opportunities that will drive new revenue streams.

 

The service moves the industry closer to a future where renewable generators keep producing, instead of switching off, as platforms like Kaluza intelligently coordinate local demand and storage to consume renewable energy when it is in abundance. Kaluza is on a mission to ensure future renewable generators will be able to keep generating as much as possible – even at times of low demand. Increasing the stability of intermittent generation can be achieved through local flexible storage solutions available in homes, such as electric vehicles, or storage heaters.

 

By bidding in green energy from Vento Ludens’ wind farm to NGESO, Kaluza is looking to establish how distributed generation can be used as a meaningful resource at a whole system level. This builds on the technology platform’s extensive work in mitigating wind generator curtailment, through domestic demand response in the Orkney Islands.

 

Conor Maher-McWilliams, head of Flexibility at Kaluza commented: “Lockdown has shown us that we cannot always easily predict demand patterns. This task will be made even more challenging as millions of electric vehicles plug in to the grid, coupled with the government’s recent pledge of 40 GW of wind generation by 2030. We therefore have to find new ways to bridge the gap between the national grid and individual, distributed renewable generators on the ground.

 

Kaluza has already taken significant steps to address this issue over the past few months, offering flexibility services to the UK’s leading Distributed Network Operators (DNOs). The ambition now is to extend the platform’s deep expertise in flexibility markets and optimisation algorithms, to create a valuable balancing resource for use at a national level. In doing so we can show how a highly decentralised system can come together in an orchestrated response to the grid’s evolving needs.”

 

Matthew Haughton, project developer at Vento Ludens commented: “We are entering very exciting times for distributed generation. In the UK, the markets are reaching a pivotal point. Opportunities for generators will soon go beyond traditional purchase power agreements and subsidies, and will increasingly play a role in grid balancing. Beyond the obvious draw for the balance sheet, the ability for green generators to keep the grid in balance will be crucial in enabling the UK to reach its net zero goals. For the Muirake wind farm, ODFM marks the first of hopefully many steps innovating within National Grid ESO’s opportunities to come.”