More than 1.3GW of flexibility may be required across the UK’s electricity grid next year. Especially, as the country accelerates the transition to renewable energy.
We predict that the dynamic service, which supports the network during faults, will need 636MW of flexibility by 2021. Distributed network operator (DNO) Western Power Distribution area is expected to procure the most flexibility services over the next two years. This could reach 800MW.
The DNO, which currently has 439MW of contracted flexibility, plans to announce further flexibility locations on 11 Jan 2021. It is to open a subsequent procurement window on 8 February 2021.
The flexibility market’s growth has been slow over the past three years as some tenders have been left undersubscribed by a high margin, while some grid operators have yet to secure any flexibility capacity
Joe Camish, Analyst
