SONI, Northern Ireland’s electricity system operator, has awarded two contracts to supply system inertia to Faughan Stability Ltd and Bush Hill Stability Ltd. Both companies are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Statkraft UK.
Statkraft UK already has two stability contracts, supplied in Keith, Moray, Scotland, and Lister Drive in Liverpool, England, described as ‘Greener Grid Parks’. Here the company’s synchronous compensators provide services to keep grid supplies within technical limits and help ‘ride through’ disturbances. Providing inertia this way means the system operator does not have to switch off renewable energy so it can bring other inertia providers, like gas turbines, into operation.