Piclo has beaten other tenders to run a local constraint market for National Grid ESO, to help clamp down on fast-rising costs at the boundary between England and Scotland.
The new initiative will allow Scottish homes and businesses to participate in a local market that diverts extra wind power into local assets at times when southward flows reach their limit – benefiting those who can take the power, including those charging EVs, businesses with battery storage and Scottish pumped hydro stations that have pioneered renewables in the region for decades.
The market will help manage transmission constraints and tackle rising costs, by requiring fewer constraint management actions to be taken through the Balancing Mechanism (BM). The Piclo Flex platform will manage the end-to-end flexibility process for the new market, including operating a day-ahead market and facilitating dispatch, settlement and payment for flexibility services.
Piclo chief executive James Johnston said: “We cannot address the energy crisis or reach net zero if we continue turning off wind power at a time when power prices are soaring. Currently it must be done because there is simply no mechanism to divert that power. Now with the local constraint market we can work with National Grid ESO to give local businesses, consumers, and industry the opportunity to absorb that power that would otherwise be wasted, while reducing costs in the process.”
Currently, the Anglo-Scottish B6 boundary has the highest constraint cost across the GB network, with costs expected to increase as a result of forecasted renewable generation growth in the area.
The market will ramp up early in 2023 and will be especially relevant for users with assets located in the border regions, including smaller assets that fall below the usual 1MW minimum requirement threshold for BM participation.
Claire Dykta, Head of Markets at the ESO said: “We were glad to see competitive bids from third party platform providers to support the delivery of this initial local constraint market. Piclo promises a fast-start solution and we look forward to this helping ESO target rising costs and unlock further provision of flexibility services from distributed assets.”
Interested parties are encouraged to register their interest on Piclo Energy. Further information from the ESO is published here .