NIA SSEN 0067 ExtenDER

Key Activities

The ExtenDER Project is testing the feasibility of a market based connection agreement to allow customers to connect earlier under Transmission constraints by enabling peer-to-peer trading of flexibility. A detailed report on the mechanisms of a Neutral Market Facilitator (NMF) to facilitate peer-to-peer trading is available upon request, and a summary of this is available in the NMF Project Closedown Report via the Smarter Networks Portal. The report goes into detail on:

1. Market-Based Connections Product Overview
2. Commercial Design, Market Design and Gaming Risks
3. Stakeholder Engagement
4. Cost-Benefit Analysis

Expected Benefits

During Phase 2 it was established there was an inability to realise the expected benefits, and it was deemed there was no viable route to Business as Usual.

Progress

The ExtenDER Project was closed early and did not go through the live trial period as initially planned. Various obstacles existed, such as Low Technology Readiness Level (TRL), no business appetite for the tool, high risk of allowing the market to facilitate connections in constrained locations, and the requirement of wider ENA consensus for a market-based approach to be adopted to change commercial processes. Crucially, the use case for connecting houses was not feasible as market-based connection agreement obligations could not be transferred from property developers to domestic consumers, which meant the anticipated benefits described in the Project Eligibility Assessment (PEA) document could not materialise.

Collaborators

• Baringa Partners LLP
• Electron

Project Budget

£1,410,000

Start/End Date

August 2023 – December 2025

Project Manager

Rhys Williams

Additional Resource

NIA SSEN 0067 : ExtenDER : ENA Smarter Network Portal