Solving Grid Constraints

Grid constraints can come in several formats. These key types of constraints can prevent you from connecting electrical equipment on your site to the National Grid. The most common are:

• Insufficient Demand – If there is insufficient demand on the grid some generators will have to disconnect. The grid has to balance these loads and utilising a Battery Energy Storage System can help store power until there is a demand from the grid for more power.
• Authorised Capacity – Every electricity user has an authorised capacity. This is basically the amount of power that you are allowed to draw from the grid at any one time. It will form part of your agreement with your DNO. If you want to install a new load on your site – a large piece of equipment, or even lots of small pieces of equipment – you will need to consider whether the extra power demand will make you exceed your allowance. If so, you will need to get permission to increase it.
• Insufficient Resilience – It is also important to consider the potential fault current from your equipment. This is a spike in electrical current which flows back through the grid when your equipment fails. The DNO is responsible for ensuring that its equipment can survive a worst-case scenario of all equipment failing at once. They will therefore only permit connection of additional equipment if their cables and substations are large enough to support the additional fault current risk.
• Incorrect Permission – If you have on-site generation, such as solar photovoltaics (PV), wind, Combined Heat and Power (CHP), and wish to export some of the electricity back to the National Grid, you will also require permission from your DNO. This is because generating electricity creates fluctuations and variations in the power network and it must be able to manage these.

These are often referred to as Grid Contracts and can generate revenue for your business.