GB’s Electricity North West taps Piclo and Electron to maximise flexibility market access

GB network operator Electricity North West is pioneering a novel two platform approach to maximise routes for providers to participate in flexibility markets.

The two otherwise competitive platforms are Electron’s ElectronConnect and Piclo’s newly launched Piclo Max.

ElectronConnect will serve as the core market platform for Electricity North West to tender and trade flexibility services, while Piclo Max will provide an alternative access point for providers, thereby reducing barriers to entry for participation in the market.

“Electricity North West is firmly committed to playing a leading role in the evolution of the distribution system operation landscape,” says Ben Grunfeld, strategy director at Electricity North West.

Have you read?
Ofgem announces £5.8mn for network utilisation and flexibility projects
The urgency and opportunities for demand side flexibility in France

“We believe that embracing innovative technologies like Piclo Max and ElectronConnect is crucial to unlocking the full potential of flexibility and delivering real benefits to our customers. This collaboration represents a significant step forward in our journey to create a more efficient, secure and customer-centric electricity network for [Britain’s] northwest.”

ElectronConnect is a next generation flexibility market platform that should enable Electricity North West to maximise the scale and value of the flexibility they procure across multiple service providers, technology types and time scales.

With an open ecosystem approach to its design, flexibility service providers should be enabled to onboard directly or through any central or private onboarding platform of their choice.

Piclo Max, launched earlier in 2024, is designed to streamline access to all electricity markets from a single place for flexibility sellers, including electric vehicles, batteries, renewables and other asset types, and enabling revenue stacking opportunities across multiple markets.

With this approach, Electricity North West is the first distribution network operator to bring together these two platforms to simultaneously maximise both functionality and routes to access these markets for flexibility service providers.

The collaboration is also planned to prove the portability of asset data and the interoperability of market platforms as part of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s ‘Flexibility markets unlocked’ initiative.

Electricity North West and Piclo will be joining the consortium led by Arup, Electron and the Energy Systems Catapult, which was formed to create a defined set of open protocols and standards to enable seamless integrations between buyers and sellers across multiple markets, products and platforms.

Electricity North West expects to launch its Spring tender in April 2024 and flexibility service providers will be able to access opportunities and prequalify via either platform.