Advanced hybrids can boost UK grid stability and cost profile

The UK can maximise use of grid connections by backing advanced hybrid projects that pair multiple forms of renewable generation with batteries and on-site flexible demand.

These hybrid projects combine multiple forms of renewable generation with batteries and on-site flexible demand, including e-fuels production. Such projects could help the grid operate more efficiently, by acting as baseload power generation and supporting a better balance between electricity supply and demand. They could also ensure that new grid connections are more cost-effective by increasing the amount they are used.

Developers would benefit too. For instance, adding solar generation capacity to a wind farm would increase the amount of energy that project could supply and, as no new grid connection would be required, it could be deployed quickly. The requirement for a new grid connection is one of the key practical barriers to building new renewables capacity.

However, the challenge for companies in the renewables industry is to show that these projects are not just technically sound but will also support grid stability. This is a crucial point that policymakers and regulators must be convinced on. If the industry can do this then policymakers could throw their support behind these advanced hybrid projects, and thus enable them to quickly roll out new renewables generation capacity.

This would be a more efficient use of sites than focusing on standalone projects, but it requires a move beyond the current generation of simple hybrid schemes.

This is a complex process for hybrid project developers to deal with, and this concern has been recognised by the grid operator. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is currently working with policymakers on how they can consider these projects as a single asset that only requires one connection to the grid. That work has not yet concluded.

Grid complexity will be a bigger obstacle as more developers propose ‘advanced’ hybrids that combine multiple forms of renewables generation with BESS and on-site flexible demand, such as e-fuel production. Support for advanced hybrids could improve energy security by increasing domestic electricity production and ensuring that Great British grid upgrades deliver as much value as possible.

Jonathon Roy, grid connection manager at European Energy, says ‘advanced’ hybrids with multiple forms of renewables generation would move closer to 24/7 generation, rather than standalone projects that policymakers and grid operators are familiar with. Policymakers will need to assess these hybrids as 24/7 assets instead of standalone sources.

“You could still review as flexible generation, but you also need to look at it from a constant demand profile. Why would you not be looking at these sites as multi-purpose for the future? It takes more time, but the future is you want to be operating as close to 24/7 as possible,” he says.

To support this, developers must show policymakers and regulators that ‘advanced’ hybrids help improve grid stability, including bringing in examples from other countries. European Energy has seen how these projects have worked elsewhere in Europe.

“We’ve demonstrated that it’s possible to build, it’s functional, and it’s cost effective,” he says. “We aren’t just coming to the UK with an idea. We’ve got an operating model and a working method with revenue from it.”

European Energy has worked on a series of these projects, particularly in Scandinavia.

Peter Braun, director and country manager for Sweden at European Energy, highlights the Skåramåla Energy Park project in Sweden’s Kronoberg County that combines wind and solar generation; and the group’s expertise with BESS and green hydrogen, at the Kassõ and Måde complexes in Denmark.

Braun says these projects show the potential benefits to the UK if developers could build advanced hybrids with single grid connection points. At Skåramåla, European Energy worked proactively and positively with the transmission operator to clarify how it would work to have a 49.6MW wind farm and a 39.3MW solar farm sharing a grid connection.

Braun says European Energy undertook a two-year permitting process to show the project is stable and credible, with a major focus on how it could curtail solar output when needed. This was important as it was untested territory for the transmission operator.

“It has taken a while, but the operator has had a positive attitude and been solution-oriented,” he says, adding only around 5% of the solar generation has had to be curtailed.

Overall, the combination of technologies in a single connection point stabilises the load, even if it means more technical complexity for the project operator.

“When you put them together, the solar PV and wind, you get a much more stable load. We put the PV behind the wind so we can keep control of it. There have been hiccups, but they are mostly technical because it’s new,” he says, adding that policymakers tend to be won over by approaches that show the grid being used more efficiently.

In countries that are looking for new renewable energy capacity, it can also make sense to add capacity to existing sites rather than building a whole new project. The need for a new grid connection is often a major barrier to new projects.

Meanwhile, policymakers that want to support the rollout of renewable power could do so more efficiently by prioritising projects that add new capacity to sites that already have grid connections, and prioritise these over single-technology projects in the permitting process.

By focusing on how to add new technologies to existing sites, you create a rapid route to deployment by removing what is often the critical barrier – building a new grid connection.  We believe that developers can then rapidly demonstrate how to overcome technical challenges that might give comfort to NESO and policymakers. This could then help pave the way for more new-build projects that use multiple generation technologies, and prove that the grid can cope.

Developers can also show the UK Government how to reduce the regulatory burden on them in areas including environmental approvals; and could work with NESO to influence its approach about which projects should gain priority access to the grid.

Finally, developers must convince policymakers to move away from a historic approach of separately considering the needs of each technology – wind, solar, BESS and others – in standalone teams, and instead tackle them as hybrids. Fewer projects will contain just one technology type, and so the UK Government must consider the unique characteristics and benefits of projects that combine technologies. We hope that AR9 in 2027 will support this.

The underlying message is that this is a great opportunity for those in the industry. There is a wave of advanced hybrids combing and the policymakers see they have the potential to boost grid stability and maximise use of grid connections. We must now bring the evidence to prove this is the case – and capitalise on the strong prospects for advanced hybrids.