Analysing the usage of carbon-intensive generation for balancing services in Great Britain and the potential impact of energy storage

Significant quantities of carbon-intensive generation are utilised yearly as part of Great Britain’s grid balancing. Alongside this, wind generation is regularly curtailed via the balancing mechanism. In order to reach net-zero targets, the grid balancing activities need to be decarbonised. This work presents a first-of-its-kind study into the feasibility of mitigating balancing mechanism activity on a site-by-site basis using energy storage. 17 combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) and 12 wind generation sites are investigated to highlight their activity throughout 2023 identifying trends and potential opportunities for energy storage deployment. The paper finishes with a study of the sizing requirements to replace individual CCGTs on the balancing mechanism, showing that to displace 1.1TWh of carbon-intensive balancing mechanism activity a 26GWh energy storage system would be required.