About the customer
EDF Energy is one of the largest energy companies in the UK, supplying around 5 million residential and business accounts with electricity or gas. EDF Energy is part of EDF Group and employs over 13,500 people across the UK.
Background
A smarter, more flexible power system which takes advantage of innovations and technologies such as battery storage and demand response could create savings and maintain security of supply. Increasing intermittend renewable generation means that we now have a greater degree of variability on the supply side of the equation as well as the demand side. The frequency and scale of the disparity between demand and supply are greater than ever and growing. EDF Energy is in the process of exploring a range of new service offerings, potentially leveraging new smart technologies, specifically energy storage. EDF Energy is developing a range of value propositions, and is moving forward with field trials early in 2017.
Services
DNV is supporting the development of these value propositions, as well as a roadmap for implementation, including trial activities. The process started with the definition of use cases and modelling of the value of different storage applications. It then moved onto the development of value propositions, including the business case that sits behind each one. The next step consists of the scoping and validation of the technical solution arrangements including high level business processes, information flows and costs. DNV is supporting EDF in its engagement with the supply chain to bring together the technical/commercial partners needed to bring the projects to fruition.
Benefits
There is flexibility value distributed amongst consumers; it can be harnessed to deliver value on an industrial as well as a residential scale. Energy storage leads to flexibility for portfolio optimization, grid management and maintaining grid balance. EDF Energy will be able to harness the power of energy storage to save its customers money, support the operation of the electricity networks and ensure sufficient capacity to meet the energy needs of Great Britain.