Centrica, sonnen team for UK virtual power plant

Business news | January 22, 2020

By Nick Flaherty

Batteries / Power Supplies Power Management

UK energy supplier Centrica has teamed with German smart battery maker Sonnen to link 100 home systems together and attached to the power grid as a virtual power plant.

The network of decentralised home energy storage systems has been approved by National Grid allowing the batteries to be aggregated in a cloud platform in order to provide Dynamic Firm Frequency Response (FFR). This can be used to sell energy storage space when the grid is overloaded or providing stored energy during periods of peak demand.

“In the past, automated Demand Response was the domain of large industrial and commercial energy users, in the last 12 months we have shown that networks of devices such as home batteries and hot water tanks can also take part, putting the customer in greater control of their energy, making them more sustainable and helping lower their bills,” said Pieter-Jan Mermans, Global Optimisation Director at Centrica.

The batteries allow customers to maximise the amount of solar generated electricity in their home, reducing their energy bills.

“The digital energy transformation, towards a clean energy system, is taking place all over the world and our technology is an important key to its success. sonnen is the first provider in the UK to prequalify with a virtual power plant of decentralised home storage systems. Every megawatt provided across the network replaces one that would have been generated by conventional fossil fuel power stations,” said Jean-Baptiste Cornefert, Managing Director of sonnen eServices.

The two companies are working together to build on the existing 100 sonnenBatterie systems, to provide even more storage capacity for grid stabilisation in the future in a larger virtual power plant.