As Britain’s power system decarbonises, it has lost thermal power stations that once underpinned the stability of the power grid.
Inertia is a physical characteristic of the grid that can prevent sudden changes in system frequency and is therefore essential for grid stability. Historically, inertia was an inherent by-product of large bits of thermal power plant machinery rotating in-sync with the electricity system. Over the last decade these traditional assets have retired and have been replaced with non-synchronous wind and solar plant that have limited inherent inertial response. This can result in serious frequency stability issues with consequences for consumers.
One such event, the so-called 9 August 2019 power outage which impacted over 1 million customers in Great Britain, helped emphasize the importance of monitoring and maintaining system stability requirements and put wind in the sails of the stability services procurement plans of National Grid Electricity System Operator (NESO).
Since 2019, first through three phases of Stability Pathfinders and subsequently through recently launched Stability Markets, NESO has procured over 47 gigavolt-ampere seconds (GVA.s) of inertia at a total cost of £2.3 billion.
In this bulletin we explore the experience of stability services procurement in GB and comment on the outlook for the future.
Click here to read the full bulletin: Evolution of the GB inertia market
Authors
Dan is an Executive Director in Frontier’s energy practice and has worked extensively within the gas and electricity sectors on network regulation, wholesale and retail competition issues and institutional arrangements.
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Abbas is a Director in Frontier’s Energy practice and has a wide range of experience with electricity market modelling and conducting impact assessment of energy market design elements.
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