ESO urged to ‘speed up’ Balancing Mechanism reforms

The Electricity System Operator (ESO) has been urged to “speed up” its reforms to the Balancing Mechanism to ensure low-carbon assets are able to compete on a level playing field with fossil fuel generators. The Electricity Storage Network said legacy systems and manual processes in the ESO’s control room mean cheaper, cleaner and more flexible assets such as batteries are often overlooked in favour of larger and less flexible gas generators. The trade body said research among its members suggest batteries are being “skipped” in the price-merit order around 80% of the time, costing consumers as much as £150 million per year.