Reactive Technologies and National Grid Electricity System Operator completed construction of a grid-scale ultracapacitor, which will provide instantaneous data on grid inertia to manage system stability instead of relying on estimates.

Constructed by Spanish technology group Ingeteam, the ultracapacitor, located in Teesside’s clean energy hub will send pulses of power through the grid. It will give an enhanced real time view of inertia.
Marc Borrett, CEO, Reactive Technologies, commented: “The commercial adoption of GridMetrix® by National Grid is a significant milestone in the journey of our technology from a conceptual innovation to a proven and fundamental grid management solution. The challenges facing Britain on its net zero journey are familiar to grids across the world and with the support of our strategic investors and partners, we are extremely excited to help unlock as many 100% renewable grids around the world as possible, accelerating the global transition to a clean energy system.”

Fintan Slye, Executive Director of National Grid ESO, added:
“Our ambition to be able to operate an electricity system that can deliver periods of 100% zero carbon power by 2025 is a stretching target, but thanks to cutting-edge technologies such as this we’re on track to achieve a significant milestone on that zero carbon journey. Decarbonising our grid brings many challenges, but through collaboration and innovation we’ll continue to develop solutions to overcome them and bring about the sustainable energy network we urgently need.”

Further reading
Reactive Technologies plans international expansion of inertia measurement tech with $15M funding
Inertia measurement solutions under investigation