ZERO CARBON 2030 - Enabling the Private Wire Revolution

“How to Enable & Optimise Private Wire Connections”

Note: If you’d like to listen to this as a podcast, you can choose any of the following links:

• http://bit.ly/Generation_Storage_Apple

• http://bit.ly/Generation_Storage_Google

• http://bit.ly/Generation_Storage_Spotify

Imagine you are a renewable energy developer – or maybe you are one.

You have an existing (or you’re developing a new) renewable asset (solar or wind for example) with it’s own Grid connection and you’d like to connect to a local industrial site via a physical private wire and generate income from a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

You’ll need a solution that will enable:

1.    Seamless integration of dual revenue streams from both your direct DNO connection (export income) AND the private wire connection (PPA revenue) - optimised between the 2 connection options

2.    Automatic management of any DNO-imposed export limitation (G100 in the UK)

3.    Optimised revenue from the PPA & export, according to fluctuating demand / generation profiles

4.    Maximised generation uptime independent of the demand customer

This may seem like a simple challenge, but it is not.  Some of the issues / challenges you may face are:

a)    You can only be connected to one or the other of the Grid connections at any moment in time – otherwise you would break the Network’s key issue of “parallel supply”

b)    You want the connection between the different connections to be dynamic so you don’t have to go and get someone to physically turn a Castell Key interlock to move from one to the other

c)    When your renewable asset is connected to the client site you may be subject to an export constraint (the client’s) which you will need to manage

d)    You may want only fractions of your renewable system to be connected to the client site at any moment in time (as opposed to the whole system) in order to optimise your revenue opportunities from your Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)

With the significant investment in existing assets and the momentum towards corporate / industrial businesses searching for zero / low carbon power alternatives, the case for linking up existing & new generation with localised demand assets via private wires will certainly start to increase and it is a problem that Argand Solutions have started to solve.

It is with this in mind that Argand Solutions have successfully achieved a DNO-approved unique connection agreement for a fully automated private wire control system.

We’re really excited by this development which we’re calling the Argand “Auto-Private Wire Control System” (APWCS.)

The APWCS is a fully approved solution that meets all of the UK’s DNO policy requirements and enables projects that otherwise would not have happened. 

The solution is also relevant to overseas markets.

We have a number of projects in the UK that are currently being developed using this technology and we’ll have more information about these as they go live.

If you’d like to hear more about how we can help with your project(s) then please get in touch. You can contact the team on bepositive@argandsolutions.com or call +44-1803-864706.