Tuesday 24 January 2017

Gateshead district energy scheme to get £1m boost from DSR

A district heat and power project has partnered with a demand response firm and boosted its future revenue by £1 million.

Flexitricity will help Gateshead District Energy Scheme gain £60,000 a year from the National Grid by linking it to its network and giving it the flexibility to smooth out peaks and troughs in electricity demand.

It will be able to provide extra power during national surges in demand and can store energy for later when there is excess supply.

The 4MW CHP scheme, which will provide low-cost, low carbon heat and power to residential and non-domestic properties in Gateshead, will join Flexitricity's demand response network for a minimum of 15 years.

It is expected to be fully operational by mid-2017.

Gateshead Council owns both the District Energy Scheme and Gateshead Energy Company.

Leader of the Council, Martin Gannon, said: "Once we realised that we could bring more revenue into the project by providing capacity to the National Grid – without changing our day-to-day operations – the decision was made for us.

"It’s win-win for ourselves and our customers. Not only does it support our business model of providing low cost, low carbon energy to homes, organisations and businesses but Flexitricity’s system works seamlessly with our own, meaning we can provide heat and power to our customers while supporting critical national infrastructure."