Some 40% of UK company directors say their business could be more flexible in its shift patterns or when it consumes energy, according to a survey by The Energyst magazine.
However, only 13% of directors surveyed say they participate in demand response schemes.
Of those that do participate, Triad is the most popular scheme, followed by frequency response and short term operating reserve (STOR) programmes.
The findings arrive as National Grid outlines how its demand turn-up (DTU) programme will operate from May 2016.
The demand turn up service aims to procure negative reserve from demand-side providers who can either turn up their demand, or reduce a level of embedded generation when called upon by the system operator. According to the document, initial contracts will run for five months as part of a soft launch of the demand turn-up service ahead of launch proper in 2017.
In May and September participants may be called upon to increase overnight power use between 23.30 and 08.30 and during the daytime – on weekends and bank holidays only – between 13.00 and 16.00. The same periods apply in June, July and August, except that the overnight period will run to 09.00.
Providers will be paid both for utilisation and availability but will be penalised for not delivering what they have promised. Grid has mooted a three strikes and out approach to delivery failure.
National Grid is still working through both commercial and technical parameters and concerns with providers and other balancing mechanism participants. It will form a working group in January to work through conflicts. However, Grid has decided to allocate contracts with a maximum length of two years and aims to procure between 200MW and 300MW of response in both 2016 and 2017.
National Grid recently published a heads of terms agreement for demand turn up, and more detailed information can be found here.
More broadly, National Grid has also produced an infographic explaining the different forms of demand response at a glance, along with a jargon buster.
Energyst Media’s Director’s Report survey is still open. We need the views of company directors and senior managers to help provide a snapshot of energy spend and trends for 2016. Every participant will receive a free copy of the report ahead of publication.Â
Take the 5-10 minute survey here.
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