New revenue from existing assets
National Grid pays Flexitricity to hold reserve available, and makes further payments when this reserve electricity is required. Flexitricity shares these payments with clients, who own the assets Flexitricity uses. This turns assets which had previously been cost items into direct revenue generators.
Improved asset reliability for your business
Standby generators need to be run regularly ‘on load’ to ensure that they are capable of providing reliable emergency power. Generators which are only tested ‘off load’ have an unacceptably high likelihood of failure when they are needed most. With Flexitricity, all running is on load. All assets connected to Flexitricity’s smart grid are monitored remotely so that clients can be informed immediately of any on-site concerns.
Reduced CO2
Every megawatt of capacity connected to Flexitricity’s smart grid is a megawatt that does not have to be held in reserve elsewhere. This reduces the need to keep coal and oil stations on hot standby or running inefficiently at part load – this reduces emissions by between 300–750 tonnes of CO2 per annum, for each megawatt provided.
Wider adoption of renewable energy
Some types of renewable technologies can only generate electricity when the weather permits. Electricity supply and demand must be kept in constant balance, so variations in renewable generation need to be matched by turning other energy generators up and down, or by altering demand. Flexitricity combines small, controllable generators and flexible electricity loads, to create a low-carbon source of balancing electricity to respond to variations in wind, wave, tidal and solar generation.