ESO announces new contracts to deliver over £14 billion in savings

• To support the ESO’s ambition to operate the national electricity transmission network at zero-carbon from 2025 the ESO has launched stability pathfinders to deliver necessary changes to the network.
• As part of the third phase of stability pathfinders the ESO has secured new contracts worth £1.3bn to provide network stability services without the use of carbon over this period
• These contracts represent a cost benefit of £14.9bn between 2025 and 2035

The ESO has awarded new contracts to deliver long-term stability for the national electricity network, which will help reduce the carbon intensity of the grid, enabling the ESO to operate the network with zero-carbon by 2025 and set up the UK to deliver a net-zero electricity system from 2035.

These contracts will provide £14.9bn in savings between 2025 and 2035 by using these new solutions to replicate and replace the actions the ESO needs to take today.

Following a successful tendering process, the ESO has agreed contracts with six companies to deliver new stability services across England and Wales as part of a third phase of stability pathfinders to redefine how the network operates.

These stability services are currently provided by synchronous generation, such as fossil fuel power stations who provide these stability outputs alongside the generation of electricity.

These contracts will help the ESO deliver alternative methods to produce the stability outputs of inertia, short-circuit level (SCL) and dynamic reactive power that are necessary for maintaining the optimal operation of the national electricity network.

Julian Leslie, ESO Head of Networks, said:

These new contracts represent a major milestone in delivering a low-carbon network for the future and will help support the delivery of our 2025 ambition to be able to operate the network at zero-carbon. 

These contracts demonstrate the type of savings that can be made and the importance of investing in net-zero now in order to unlock benefits for consumers for the future.