Capacity Market Auction success for Centrica

Publish date: 9th December 2016

Centrica plc has today confirmed plans to build a series of flexible power facilities having secured 15 year agreements for over 500MW of new capacity.

The company has been awarded capacity market agreements starting in October 2020 for the following projects:

• A 49MW battery storage facility at Roosecote in Cumbria;
• Two 50MW fast response distributed generation gas-fired plants at Brigg in North East Lincolnshire and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire;
• A 370MW combined cycle gas turbine at King’s Lynn in Norfolk.

Construction of the facilities, which have been designed to respond to peaks in demand, is set to start next spring.

Jorge Pikunic, Managing Director of Centrica’s Distributed Energy & Power business said: “We’re very pleased to be in a position to make these important investments in new flexible generation and battery storage, which will play a crucial role in securing power supplies and supporting network stability as more renewables come online.

“We believe there is also an opportunity for businesses and other large energy users to get involved, which is why we’re helping them unlock new revenue streams and make their sites more resilient by installing their own on site facilities, or by optimising their existing energy assets.”

The battery storage facility, which will be one of the world’s largest of its kind, will be capable of holding enough power to meet the needs of around 50,000 homes, responding to fluctuations in demand in under a second.

The new fast response plants will use gas engines to generate power for approximately 100,000 homes within two minutes. The former King’s Lynn power station, which closed in 2012, will also be home to a new gas plant capable of generating power for over 370,000 homes.

Centrica’s Langage, South Humber Bank and Brigg gas-fired power stations and all 16 reactors in the UK’s operational nuclear fleet, in which Centrica has a 20 per cent equity interest, have also been awarded one year Capacity Agreements starting in October 2020.

Notes to editors:

Note: All Capacity Agreements are subject to final confirmation from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, which is expected no later than 21 December 2016, and receipt of a Capacity Agreement, which is expected no later than 23 January 2017.

• Centrica is an international energy and services company.
• Our Distributed Energy & Power business has been established as a new global business unit with a focus on helping businesses and other large energy users to take control of their energy. Distributed energy, including energy efficiency, flexible generation and new technologies is an activity we believe could provide significant growth potential for Centrica in the long term.
• The Roosecote site was originally home to a coal-fired power station, which opened in 1954. It was replaced by a gas-fired plant in 1991 that was mothballed in 2012 and demolished in 2015 due to the plant having become uneconomic in the prevailing market conditions.
• A full list of global energy storage projects can be found at http://www.energystorageexchange.org/
• Langage, Humber and the 16 reactors in the UK nuclear fleet, in which we have a 20% equity stake, were all successful in both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 capacity market auctions.

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