Uniper : awarded six-year contracts to deliver innovative grid stability services

The British grid operator National Grid Eso is looking for low carbon solutions that contribute to grid stability and maintain the balance of the British energy system. Uniper has been awarded four six-year contracts to deliver grid stability services at our Killingholme and Grain facilities in Britain.

Following the contract signing, we will repurpose redundant steam generators at Killingholme, and build two new synchronous compensation units at Grain, which will start delivering inertia services and voltage control to the Grid from April 2021. Uniper will be the biggest provider of dedicated inertia and voltage control and will deliver the services at Killingholme and Grain up to 2026.

Uniper will provide these services without the need for combustion of fuel. This innovative approach removes the need to use 'generating' power stations that have traditionally been needed to keep the system stable and our electricity supply at the required frequency. These services will operate independently of our current generating assets on site, whilst making use of existing infrastructure.

This will make an important contribution in helping to enable the transition to a low carbon future by maintaining grid stability and security of supply as more intermittent, renewable generation technology comes online; one of the central challenges of the energy transition. And Uniper supports National Grid ESO in their ambition to operate a lower carbon energy grid in the future.

Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of Uniper: 'We are delighted to have been awarded the contracts for our innovative projects by the British grid operator. By providing inertia we make a substantial contribution to grid stability in one of our important core markets and we enable to further increase the share of renewables. This topic becomes more relevant in future while decarbonization not only in Britain further advances. Such market frameworks should also be considered in other markets, like Germany.'

Mike Lockett, Country Chairman Uniper UK and Chief Commercial Officer Power: 'This tender demonstrates our ongoing commitment to meeting the challenge of a zero-carbon future. The requirements of the energy transition mean there are considerable growth opportunities in providing stability solutions to Grid and creating these innovative solutions places Uniper at the forefront of this market. Congratulations to all those involved in this process and I look forward to the successful delivery of our solutions and taking further progressive steps on the road to net-zero.'

This is the first tender National Grid ESO has run under phase one of its System Stability Pathfinder. With further stability tenders still expected to take place, providing further opportunities for Uniper to utilize its assets and engineering and market expertise in this fast-developing sector of the energy transition.