Engie debuts in frequency support

French utility Engie (EPA:ENGI) today said it had started offering an innovative frequency regulation service for the grid using an energy storage system named BattGrid.

Since Monday, the service, which is a first on the French market, according to Engie, is available to the French electricity transmission operator RTE.

In January 2016, French legislation ended the exclusive use of facilities connected to the transmission system for electricity balancing, opening the way for new alternatives such as the use of consumer sites or storage systems connected to the electricity distribution system.

Engie's frequency support service is based on a 1 MW lithium-ion battery is connected to the electricity distribution system to store excess electricity and inject it if required into this same system. It is currently operated by the “Global Energy Management” unit of Engie -- its interface on markets.

The French company has ambitious growth objectives in the field of frequency support services, which combine intermittency management, aggregation of flexibilities and reduction of CO2 emissions. Ultimately, the group targets to become a renowned expert in the aggregation and promotion of all kinds of storage systems on the electricity grid, at European level and worldwide.

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