Enel X to aggregate Threefold commercial batteries for grid services

Enel X is set to bring 3.5MW of Threefold Energy’s commercial batteries into its virtual power plant, allowing them to take part in wider grid and energy markets.

Under a five-year agreement, Enel X will provide market access and optimisation for the Threefold sites covered by the deal, but there is potential for the deal to scale. In fact, the two companies say they eventually want to scale participation beyond 100MW. 

Threefold’s Optima platform already controls when electricity is taken from the grid, stored in batteries and used on site. This helps businesses avoid buying as much electricity during more expensive periods.

The Enel X deal adds another use for those batteries. Through its VPP Connect platform, Enel X will be able to group them together and, where they qualify, use them in services that support the wider electricity system.

The companies say this can be done through Threefold’s existing hardware and software, without installing extra equipment at customer sites.

In practical terms, that means batteries installed mainly to cut a business’s electricity costs could also earn money by helping balance supply and demand on the grid.

The agreement comes as NESO tries to bring more flexibility from businesses into the electricity system. The first annual update to the Clean Flexibility Roadmap found that 170MW of new industrial and commercial flexibility had become available through the Balancing Mechanism and Demand Flexibility Service, against a target of another 750MW by 2030.

Behind-the-meter batteries form part of that opportunity because they can change when a business draws electricity from the grid.

Luke Gamble, CEO of Threefold Energy, noted, “The Enel X partnership lets us keep our customers in greater control of their energy costs, while our batteries deliver the load shifting the grid badly needs.”

The companies have not said how many sites will make up the initial 3.5MW portfolio or how much energy those batteries can store in total.

The first assets are expected to join the scheme within the next 12 months, with more capacity added as Threefold’s portfolio grows.