Regional Reserve (DRS)

Project summary

Reserve is essential in securing the electricity grid. Choosing how much reserve to procure is a balance between risk and cost.

Name Status Project reference number Start date Proposed End date
Regional Dynamic Reserve Setting Live NIA2_NESO080 Sep 2024 Sep 2025
 

 

Strategy theme Funding mechanism Technology Expenditure Preceding Projects
Optimised assets and practices NIA_RIIO-2 Network Monitoring £700,000 NIA2_NGESO003
Summary

This problem has been tackled in a previously successful project named Probabilistic Machine Learning Solution for Dynamic Reserve Setting (DRS) NIA2_NGESO003; however, this project considered reserve at the national level and in practice, different amounts of reserve are required in different locations across Great Britain. This project will further the DRS work by building explainable, risk-based dynamic models for reserve that generate predictions at finer spatial resolutions. Using these models, NESO will have access to accurate, risk-based predictions of reserve requirements at different locations and can then make more informed decisions to maximise its usage and minimise costs.  

Benefits

Setting the reserve regionally could unlock further savings by allowing NESO to procure reserve where it is required, lowering transmission losses, ensuring reserve purchased is not inaccessible due to constraints, further lowering overall reserve setting costs by allowing for offsetting of reserve in neighbouring regions. Also, the benefits to consumers would be lower energy costs and carbon emissions. Better modelling reserve requirements at desired risk appetites would maintain the trajectory that NESO is on to move to a carbon free electricity grid by 2035 and to do so in a way that maintains security of supply while optimising the balancing cost.   

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