ExCeL London’s two on-site standby diesel generators, which are capable of up to 6MW of electrical output, can power the entire site in a power cut. They are also used occasionally to reduce peak demand during major events.

Flexitricity’s demand-response infrastructure has the ability to turn on the generators at short notice. This helps National Grid to stabilise the national electricity network during demand peaks, or when large power stations fail. Bringing these generators into STOR provides ExCeL London with six-figure annual revenues, entirely from assets which the company already owns.

A power failure during a major event would not be acceptable to ExCeL London’s customers. Standby generators are complex assets, and their reliability is vital to ExCeL London’s operations. Flexitricity and ExCeL London worked together to overcome limitations on the site’s connection to the local distribution network, allowing the generation plant to run at full output in parallel with the grid. This provides an ideal on-load test and exercise regime, and gives the site’s operators early warning of any faults which would affect supply security.

ExCeL London provides reserve electricity to National Grid only within the constraints of normal business operations.