Finance
Record revenues for UK battery fleets in October
Firms and analysts operating in the UK have pointed to record revenues in October 2024 for battery systems.
By
Tristan Rayner, Max Hall
Nov 08, 2024
Finance
The British business of French state-owned utility EDF has reported record revenues from its battery fleet during October 2024, with further data from battery analytics platform developer Modo Energy also pointing to a record setting month.
Modo Energy said batteries in Great Britain earned £58k/MW/year (approximately USD $75k/MW/year), largely due to the highest wholesale revenues since December 2022, and indicated revenues increased by 26% from September. Revenues were fractionally higher than the previous high for 2024, seen in April.
Data from the company point to falls in revenue from September from the capacity market, which were offset by ancillary service and trading revenues, as shown in the chart below:
Chart: Modo Energy
Modo Energy further supplied data indicating wholesale spreads were up 29% from September, with rising demand coinciding with a slump in wind generation seeing higher prices on offer.
EDF details higher revenues
Without specifying figures, EDF Wholesale Market Services announced this week on LinkedIn that the month had set a record for battery optimization revenue as well.
The London-based business unit said “robust” wholesale market spreads – the difference between the cost of storing and discharging electricity, in the case of batteries, and the wholesale electricity price – had been instrumental in its revenue performance, with the wholesale price higher at levels not seen since October 2023.
EDF said payments to its battery energy storage systems (BESS) for maintaining grid frequency had experienced a “significant uplift” and added its batteries had seen record balancing mechanism activity. The balancing mechanism involves the UK’s National Energy System Operator balancing electricity supply and demand on the grid.
With EDF stating balancing mechanism revenue was “particularly evident on windy days,” the company’s battery fleet will have banked revenue for making energy storage capacity available during periods of excess wind power generation.
The company added its battery fleet, guided by EDF’s PowerShift optimization platform, had also benefited from energy price volatility, including electricity price surges, during the month in question.
The utility also claimed the carbon offsetting nature of battery energy storage would make such projects “increasingly valuable for investors focusing on sustainable finance.”
Environmental group Friends of the Earth has described carbon offsetting as a cover for carbon emitters to conduct business as usual and has stated the system is “worsening the nature and climate emergencies.”
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