Due to the current geopolitical situation and its impact on the energy sector, the team has been involved in supporting a number of projects which help to facilitate sustainable flows to Europe, safe management of the network and aid to enable better winter preparedness. The spectrum of projects involves commercial facilitation of reopening of Rough Storage, reform of Gas Demand Side Response arrangements and enhancement to the pressure service at the BBL interconnector. Please see an example of one of the projects below and check our latest newsletter for further details.
Demand Side Response (DSR)
Gas DSR enables large gas consumers, via their shipper/supplier, to offer to reduce their gas demand in return for a payment which they define at times when the national supply/demand balance is tight. In such situations, DSR represents a commercial opportunity for the consumer as well as a system balancing tool for National Grid that can be deployed to mitigate the risk of such an imbalance progressing to a gas deficit emergency.
The gas DSR arrangements have been in place for a number of years but appear not to have been taken up for a number of reasons, including insufficient commercial incentives, impact on consumers’ operations and the short lead-times required.
We have sought to address these issues by proposing reforms to the DSR rules that would improve the financial incentives and potentially lengthen the lead-time within which a response would be required a number, and would also enable shippers to make commitments in advance to contract for DSR, in return for an option / availability payment via UNC Modification 0822.