The Electricity System Operator (ESO) has relaxed metering requirements for a cohort of up to 300MW of small-scale aggregated assets to allow them to participate in the Balancing Mechanism.
The ESO said the move will allow it to collect data on the behaviour of participating assets, which will have a maximum individual capacity of 1MW.
Under the current rules, assets in the Balancing Mechanism must deliver a meter reading every second with an accuracy of +/- 1%. The ESO said these requirements are a barrier to entry for many assets and providers.
In July, the ESO launched a trial as part of the Power Responsive programme, in which small-scale aggregated assets were allowed into the Balancing Mechanism with less stringent metering requirements of one reading every ten seconds and an accuracy of +/- 2.5%. The refresh rate was further relaxed to once every minute in December.
It has now announced that, starting immediately, a capped cohort of up to 300MW of assets will be allowed to enter the Balancing Mechanism under the same metering requirements as in the trial, but on an enduring basis.
The ESO said this will give providers the confidence to plan ahead. It said the participating assets will be allowed to continue operating in the Balancing Mechanism regardless of the outcome of the independent study into operational metering standards, which it is currently in the process of commissioning.
It said the cohort is open to all assets and providers that can meet the relaxed metering requirements and the other normal Balancing Mechanism rules.
A spokesperson for the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) commented: “We are proud of the work the ADE has done to make this step possible. Removing barriers for distributed flexible assets to participate in ESO markets is not a ‘nice to have’ but an absolute imperative for ESO to be capable of balancing a decarbonised system for periods from 2025.
“We look forward to supporting the ESO in a broader review of metering standards for smaller assets with the goal of developing a future where British homes and businesses are just as valuable in balancing the system as a handful of large generators”.
In September, the ESO announced that domestic assets would for the first time be permitted to participate in the Balancing Mechanism as part of the Power Responsive trial.
The following month, Octopus Energy was selected as the first supplier to enter the Balancing Mechanism with domestic assets, specifically smart electric vehicle chargers used by customers on its Intelligent Octopus tariff.