News

Flexitricity receives backing to launch new products and services

16 Jan 2012

Creator of the first and most advanced smart grid in the UK prepares for 2012 expansion. Edinburgh, UK – 16 January 2012 – Flexitricity, a UK Company, (www.flexitricity.com) today announced a further investment from Archangel Informal Investments, its current investors, to fund new activity.

Edinburgh, UK - 16 January 2012 - Flexitricity, a UK Company, (http://www.flexitricity.com/) today announced a further investment from Archangel Informal Investments, its current investors, to fund new activity.

The new capital will support Flexitricity's continued expansion together with its move into new market opportunities and its development of new technologies.

"We are very pleased to provide further backing to Flexitricity," said John Waddell, Chief Executive of Archangels. "The company has made significant progress in developing its technology and service offering, and with increased demands on electricity networks we see a very positive future for Flexitricity."

Flexitricity contracts to National Grid for the provision of Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR) and Frequency Response services. During STOR year 4, which ended in March 2011, Flexitricity accounted for 18.1% of the demand-side STOR market in terms of calls received.

"We experienced significant growth last year and we are confident about how the UK market is shaping-up," said Ron Ramage, Chief Executive Officer of Flexitricity. "Our investment into people and technology has helped us secure contracts with many of the UK's largest banks, retailers and utilities, while enabling us to participate in some of the UK's most exciting demand response deployments."   

Flexitricity is participating in a number of Ofgem's Low Carbon Networks Fund (LCNF) projects and is working with Electricity North West to explore how its technology can help distribution networks increase the capacity of existing infrastructure.

2012 will see the release of Flexitricity's new Frontline service which will arrive at an important time of transformation in the electricity industry. This sub-second response service will connect with assets such as Diesel Rotary UPS (DRUPS) equipment, large scale refrigeration plant, and electricity storage systems, to provide frequency response. With a sudden change in the frequency of the national electricity supply, Frontline invokes rapid, automatic changes in load or generation at partner sites. Flexitricity Frontline will provide a low-carbon source of frequency response to National Grid, while providing revenue to partner sites.

"We have been helping UK companies make money from demand response and distributed generation since 2008," said Dr Alastair Martin, Chief Strategy Officer and founder of Flexitricity. "This new funding will help us to drive the development of a gigawatt-scale smart grid infrastructure which is essential to the UK's future energy needs."