The United Kingdom’s Government Procurement Service has contracted with smart grid companies KiWi Power and Flexitricity to provide demand response programs for government organizations.
Public sector organizations that work within the new Demand Side Response Framework Agreement can now gain access to benchmarked pre-authorized Demand Side Response services, which will provide them the ability to either curtail their consumption of electricity or utilize their on-site generation capabilities in response to the demands of national and local grid systems.
Fluctuations in electricity supply and demand dictate that some capacity must always be kept in reserve to keep the transmission and distribution system in balance. Demand-side response allows organizations to provide some of the flexibility needed to balance the system. National Grid and the distribution network operators (DNOs) remunerate the smart grid vendors to hold reserve. In addition, further payments are made when this reserve is accessed. The smart grid companies share these payments with participating energy partners, which can reach $156,000 per year on a medium-sized site, according to Flexitricity.
The public sector, which includes central government departments, non-departmental public bodies, NHS bodies and local authorities, is vast and diverse, using an estimated 10 percent of total UK electricity demand.
