Results of home battery pilot in the National Grid DFS

SolarEdge Technologies has revealed the successful results of its UK home battery scheme, the first-of-its-kind in last winter’s National Grid ESO Demand Flexibility Service (DFS).

During DFS events, the National Grid offered financial incentives to participants nationwide who reduced their electricity usage at peak times to decrease demand on the grid. Unlike ‘manual turn-down’ participants, SolarEdge home battery owners earned financial rewards for their stored battery power during peak hours, without having to reduce their electricity usage.

Smart Metering Systems used SolarEdge’s smart technology to autonomously charge participants’ batteries remotely ahead of each DFS event and then maximise power export to the grid during the event itself, eradicating the need for any manual participation from the homeowner.

Participating battery owners earned up to 10 times more financial rewards than participants paid by the DFS for manually reducing their energy consumption. The highest financial reward received by a battery owner during a single DFS event reached £25.60, with the average reward received £6.52. In comparison, UK manual turn-down DFS participants received approximately 90p per DFS event on average. In the six DFS events which SolarEdge batter owners participated in, the highest total reward achieved by a battery participant was £100.61. Projections by SMS suggest that if the DFS service becomes an enduring year-round service, domestic battery owners could earn over £300 per year.

For the National Grid, participating batteries reduced demand on the grid up to six times more than UK homeowners manually reducing their home energy consumption. On average, battery participants exported 2.7kWh to the grid per DFS event, compared to less than 0.5kWh reduction in grid demand on average per manual turn-down participant.