Our Urban Reserve and Power Projects
Supporting the UK’s energy transition
Electricity when and where it’s needed most:
Our market-leading urban flexible energy facilities help support the growth of renewables by providing on-demand energy when wind and solar are not able to produce enough electricity. In doing so, our projects help balance the grid, enabling the transition to a low carbon economy, whilst making sure, whatever the weather, we have the electricity we need close to where we need it.
Do you own industrial or open storage land?
You could receive a 25 year lease with competitive rent…
20
active peaking plants
82.3mw
11
sites under construction
41.3mw
9
sites with planning approval
50.5mw
6
sites with planning pending
26.8mw
Peaking Plants
Peaking plants use natural gas in highly efficient engines to generate electricity for ‘longer periods’ of low renewable output, for example on short winter days (low solar generation) or extended periods of low pressure (low wind generation). In doing so, peaking plants ensure we have secure energy supplies whilst supporting growing renewable capacity without the risk of power cuts.
Energy Storage
Energy storage – or ‘batteries’ – provides a more instantaneous but shorter duration response than gas engines. Batteries are currently playing a significant role in regulating the grid’s frequency and in time will increasingly help ‘shift’ excess renewable electricity from times when there is more low carbon electricity generated than we need, to times when there is less renewable generation or higher demand.
Combined Flexibility
Batteries do not produce electricity and once full cannot store more renewable electricity, and once empty they cannot support the system. So, whilst they allow us to better us renewable electricity, they do not provide security of supply or help us to securely increase the overall low carbon capacity. These roles are instead fulfilled by our peaking plants. This is how energy storage and peaking plants contribute to collectively providing flexible energy, security of supply and support progress to net zero.
Our development process:
Desktop study:
A suitable site needs many things; an electrical connection, telecomms, a gas connection (peaking plant only) and a realistic chance of obtaining planning consent. Our experienced in-house team can assess all of these for you.
Securing connections:
Urban Reserve projects need to be connect into local networks (electricity and gas). Securing these connections is vital to ensure a project will work. With your permission, but at our cost, we will submit connection applications to the networks.
Heads of terms:
Once we have the connection agreements, we can finalise the Heads of Terms for the lease agreement. AMP Clean Energy will pay the legal costs of drawing up the lease.
Planning approval:
Using our in-house specialists and in collaboration with our landlords, we prepare and submit a planning application for the site entirely at our own cost and risk. Once submitted, we normally receive planning permission within three months.
Construction & operation:
With the lease agreed and the planning approved we move into the construction phase. This lasts 3-5 months. Once built, the unmanned site will be operational for 20-30 years.
Explore Heysham Power
Watch an Urban Reserve site being built from start to finish
Watch how we transformed a piece of derelict land into an Urban Reserve flexible energy facility in 8 months. Developed on the site of a former aircraft factory, Parkbury Power will provide flexible energy in the busy St Albans area.
Urban Reserve – powering the transition to a net zero future
