Dirty ‘peaking power stations’ to meet surging energy demand during London 2012 Olympics

800 MW pick-up predicted following ‘Isles of Wonder’ opening ceremony

27th July 2012, London – According to KiWi Power, the UK’s leading smart grid and demand management company, while some are billing London 2012 as the world’s first truly sustainable Olympic Games, it will still rely on ‘dirty’ power stations to provide additional electricity.

The National Grid will use these part-loaded coal-fired power stations to cope with surges during ‘TV pick-ups’ throughout the Olympic schedule.

TV pick-ups are unique to Britain and present major challenges for the National Grid in keeping the supply and demand of electricity in constant balance. National Grid has been working hard to prepare for the games and has planned for a wide range of scenarios as millions of viewers take a break and turn their kettles on.

Green Games

Sustainability and carbon reduction have been top priorities throughout the planning of the London 2012 Olympic Games. However, as Yoav Zingher, director and CEO of KiWi Power explains, there are still some aspects of the Games that are less environmentally friendly.

“Peak demand for energy is likely to occur throughout the Games, particularly after events such as the opening ceremony and the Men’s 100m final. These rapid fluctuations in electricity demand will be managed by additional facilities such as part-loaded coal-fired power stations – not the most environmentally friendly way of meeting energy demand.”

According to predictions from the National Grid’s forecasting team, the grid may see a pick-up of around 800MW immediately after the ‘Isles of Wonder’ opening ceremony.

KiWi Power is helping meet these energy demand peaks through its Demand Management service with National Grid - reducing demand at frozen food distribution centres and switching on local generation at NHS hospitals.

Negawatts

The use of part-loaded power stations is inefficient, expensive and pollutes the atmosphere. Demand Management programmes allow aggregators, such as KiWi Power, to present utility companies and grid operators with a virtual power station operating in ‘negawatts’, or ‘negative megawatts’. A negawatt is a megawatt of power that doesn’t need to be produced or expended.

Following initial energy audits and the installation of free smart energy metering technology, industrial and commercial companies can manage their energy consumption by turning down non-essential services such as lighting, heating and air conditioning during periods of peak energy demand.

This removes the need for National Grid to bring polluting power stations online and allows businesses to receive substantial payments for responding to peak demand events while reducing carbon emissions.

Peaking power

Around 10 percent of the UK's electricity capacity is generated from expensive and polluting coal-fired power stations. Referred to as ‘peaking power stations’, they are used by National Grid to satisfy peak demand for electricity and avoid blackouts.

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Editor’s notes

To download a hi-res image of a power station, click here

Marcus Edgar

Resonates

T: 01635 898 698

E: marcus@resonates.com

About KiWi Power

KiWi Power was co-founded by Yoav Zingher and Ziko Abram in 2009. KiWi Power is a smart grid company that specialises in managing the demand side of energy consumption for large industrial and commercial consumers of electricity and for government regulators. The technical term is ‘demand response’. KiWi Power operates in the UK in England, Wales and Scotland supplying demand-side management services to the National Grid. The National Grid pays for these demand reductions, thereby allowing participating companies to generate new recurring revenue streams and reduce their carbon footprint.

www.kiwipowered.com

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