Capacity Market Auction success for Centrica

£180m investments in flexible energy storage and gas-fired power generation

Centrica plc has today confirmed plans to build a series of flexible power facilities having secured 15 year agreements for over 500MW of new capacity.

The company has been awarded capacity market agreements starting in October 2020 for the following projects:

– A 49MW battery storage facility at Roosecote in Cumbria;
– Two 50MW fast response distributed generation gas-fired plants at Brigg in North East Lincolnshire and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire;
– A 370MW combined cycle gas turbine at King’s Lynn in Norfolk.

Construction of the facilities, which have been designed to respond to peaks in demand, is set to start next spring.

Jorge Pikunic, Managing Director of Centrica’s Distributed Energy & Power business said: “We’re very pleased to be in a position to make these important investments in new flexible generation and battery storage, which will play a crucial role in securing power supplies and supporting network stability as more renewables come online.

“We believe there is also an opportunity for businesses and other large energy users to get involved, which is why we’re helping them unlock new revenue streams and make their sites more resilient by installing their own on site facilities, or by optimising their existing energy assets.”

The battery storage facility, which will be one of the world’s largest of its kind, will be capable of holding enough power to meet the needs of around 50,000 homes, responding to fluctuations in demand in under a second.

The new fast response plants will use gas engines to generate power for approximately 100,000 homes within two minutes. The former King’s Lynn power station, which closed in 2012, will also be home to a new gas plant capable of generating power for over 370,000 homes.

Centrica’s Langage, South Humber Bank and Brigg gas-fired power stations and all 16 reactors in the UK’s operational nuclear fleet, in which Centrica has a 20 per cent equity interest, have also been awarded one year Capacity Agreements starting in October 2020.