What We Do

We operate the UK’s largest portfolio of decentralised, flexible power stations, situated throughout England and Wales. Our units convert natural gas into electricity to supply rapid-response power to the grid during periods of increased demand. This helps to keep the energy system balanced and resilient and the UK’s homes and businesses running smoothly.

The energy we generate from our network meets the needs of local businesses and customers close to communities. We rise to local and national energy balancing challenges to help keep the lights on, with each of our 20MW units capable of powering around 57,000 homes. Our sites can also be relied upon as back up to renewable sources when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow.

Batteries have the power to store energy generated from renewables and hold it for use at times when electricity demand increases or when renewable sources aren’t able to deliver. The National Grid Electricity System Operator (NG ESO) needs battery storage to dynamically manage the UK’s energy system in real-time. Functioning like the cruise control in a car, our batteries automatically increase or decrease their output to ensure that the system frequency remains consistently within safe limits, reducing the risk of power cuts.
With the current potential to power more than 140,000 UK homes for 1 hour, our 70MW operational battery portfolio will soon increase in size to 120MW. We plan to further add to this portfolio with a 360MW battery at our site at Wilton International on Teesside.

By bridging gaps in energy supply, flexible power and batteries help to address the intermittency of renewables, ensuring reliable supplies for UK homes and businesses.

As the UK works towards its 2050 Net-Zero target – to balance carbon emissions released into, and taken out of, the atmosphere – these flexible energy sources will play an increasingly important role.