11 November 2014

Costain has recently announced a new partnership with Edinburgh based company Flexitricity. 

Flexitricity specialises in demand side balancing services, offering STOR (Short Term Operating Reserve) Footroom, Frontline and Triad management to partner sites.  These services will be added to Costain's COdemand portfolio that was launched in March to allow customers to gain access to a new revenue stream while contributing to grid balancing services.

Flexitricity Frontline reacts to a low-frequency deviation (49.7 Hz) and triggers a balancing response by either reducing consumption or increasing generation instantaneously. Assets which can provide Flexitricity Frontline are pumps, HVAC systems, cold storage compressors and diesel rotary uninterruptable power supplies (DRUPS).

STOR is procured by National Grid to balance the grid for short periods, when unplanned circumstances create a need for extra generation during morning demand uplift and evening rush hour.  During such times STOR providers, on request of Flexitricity, reduce their consumption or utilise onsite standby generation to support the grid.  

Flexitricity’s Footroom service provides National Grid with an effective mechanism to utilise wind-generated energy, at times when the GB system demand is low.  This use of renewable energy negates the need to otherwise curtail active wind farms in order to balance the grid.  Providers who offer this service must demonstrate a true increased consumption during Footroom events.

The majority of industrial and commercial customers have TNUoS (or “triad”) charges passed to them by their electricity supplier.  Flexitricity’s triad management is a service that reduces customer consumption during the three triad periods of winter.  Triad periods are identified by National Grid in March each year when GB consumption peaks are known, and industrial and commercial customers are charged in proportion to their usage during the triad periods.  Where customers can reduce their consumption, charges are lower.  Flexitricity utilises a range of data sources to forecast these peaks and proactively reduce customer site consumption. 

Flexitricity’s range of demand response services offer multiple benefits to customers, including revenue stream that can be used to pay for the maintenance of the asset.  Participation in demand side services can exercise standby generators which would otherwise be infrequently used or tested, providing confidence in the assets ability to perform when required for site emergencies.

The addition of these services enables Costain to increase its breadth of offerings and use engineering expertise, knowledge of the demand response market and expert partners to advise, deliver and manage demand response solutions for customers.

 

Ends

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