Anesco Picks EDF Energy & Upside For Solar and Battery Farm Trading Deal

EDF Energy will provide Anesco with a guaranteed minimum revenue to give income certainty.

France-based EDF Energy in a partnership with technology partner Upside Energy has signed a deal with Anesco, one of UK’s largest renewable energy companies, to optimise a combined 16 MW of solar and battery assets at the Clayhill solar farm. This unique deal will see EDF Energy providing a guaranteed floor price for storage – a first within the sector.

The French firm will work with Anesco and Upside to enhance the efficiency and profitability of the Clayhill assets, securing contracts with grid operators and generating revenue through direct access to wholesale markets. Due to its expertise in trading and dispatching assets in the UK energy market, EDF will be able to offer Anesco a guaranteed ‘floor price’ for this project, marking a significant step forward for UK renewables.

The deal will see EDF Energy operate Clayhill’s portfolio of assets through their proprietary demand-side response platform, PowerShift. This platform enables industrial or grid-scale customers to benefit from EDF Energy’s 24/7trading capabilities, choosing to consume or sell energy based on real-time pricing from every available market source. The partnership will now see the three firms work together to connect additional Anesco assets to the PowerShift platform.

Anesco’s Clayhill solar farm opened in September 2017 and was the first subsidy-free solar development in the UK. Situated in Bedfordshire, the 44.58-acre site houses 31,240 solar panels, totalling 10MW of solar PV and is co-located with five 1.2MW batteries.

Vincent de Rul, Director of Energy Solutions at EDF Energy, says: “EDF Energy is thrilled to announce its partnership with Anesco, helping to maximise the profitability of its Clayhill site by providing access to the wholesale market. We have worked closely with Anesco over the past few months to develop a unique and innovative contract structure that will be crucial if we want to balance renewable generation on the grid and work towards a low-carbon energy mix.”

Steve Shine, Executive Chairman at Anesco, says: “At Anesco we are always looking for new and innovative ways to maximise the return on our assets and provide more certainty to our investors. The floor price and 24-hour trading capability provided in this deal are crucial new developments for storage. This is a partnership between three fantastic organisations, we’re already achieving great results and I am sure we will be working together ever more closely in the future.

Together, EDF Energy, Upside and Anesco aim to test new business models and provide demand-side response services that help the grid deal with fluctuations during times of peak usage and make maximum use of available renewable energy.