Capacity increase leads to energy firm’s surge
Published on Wednesday, 14 February 2018
A Solihull-based energy firm has dramatically increased its capacity to produce electricity for the nation.
The firm is UK Power Reserve, which now has a capacity of more than one gigawatt, and is now the largest energy provider of its kind in the UK.
The firm produces electricity from gas, and this is done at 32 sites around the UK, including Wales, Scotland, London, Gloucester and Hull.
Each of these sites is a mini-power station, and each has ten engines housed in containers which are fired up to turn gas into electricity.
This electricity is then used by National Grid UK, whenever demand dictates.
The latest boost to capacity comes after UK Power Reserve bought the right to produce 200 megawatts of electricity at the government’s annual Capacity Market auction.
Basically, at these auctions, the government decides how much capacity it needs – in this case to meet demand in four years – and then invites suppliers to bid for the right to produce the electricity, with the lowest bid winning.
UK Power Reserve will produce the 200mw of gas-fired electricity for delivery in October 2021. The company now has a total portfolio of 1013mw.
The company has a strong track record in the annual UK Capacity Markets – through four years of auctions to date, it is the single largest developer of new build distributed generation projects, comprising a tenth of all new capacity due to come online.
The company’s portfolio also includes 120mw of battery storage, one of the biggest in Europe – this isn’t online yet, but will use lithium ion batteries – the same as in mobile phones – to store electricity which can be then fed back into the national grid when needed. .
Tim Emrich (pictured), CEO and co-founder of UK Power Reserve, said: “We are excited to reaffirm UK Power Reserve’s position as one of the world’s largest flexible generators by crossing the 1GW mark.
“This Capacity Market auction has cleared at the lowest price ever, and in doing so has delivered tremendous value and security of supply for the UK consumer.
“It is complementary to the government’s decarbonisation policies, thereby allowing independents like UK Power Reserve to deliver cleaner and cheaper energy.
“This latest auction represents a reshaping and re-engineering of the UK generation mix, delivering flexible, efficient, small scale gas generation, energy storage and demand side response to support a renewable future. We are proud to be part of this amazing transformation.”