In 2014, UK Power Reserve placed one of the largest global natural gas generating set orders of its kind with Cummins, the turnkey contractors for the current development project New gas-fired generator sets have been delivered to Carrington power station, the first of leading independent electricity generator UK Power Reserve’s (UKPR) 26 development sites
When its construction programme completes in 2018, UKPR’s total portfolio will nearly quadruple to 693MW – the largest portfolio of its kind in the UK and EU. UKPR is currently building gas fired power stations comprising in excess of 500MW of flexible, efficient rapid response power capacity for the UK market. Its generation helps balance supply and demand for electricity, particularly at times when the gap between the two is tight.
Produced by global power generation equipment manufacturer Cummins Power Generation, the first fleet of generator sets have arrived at UKPR’s Carrington, Manchester site which will house ten of these containerized units, or around 20MW of capacity. That’s enough to power more than 20,000 homes. The 35 ton generators were moved into position using a crane with a lift capacity of 250- tonnes. UKPR’s Carrington site – as well as similar sites in Gloucester, Immingham, and Tonypandy – will be operational by the end of this summer. Many others, including sites in Tottenham, Bracknell, and Hemel Hempstead, will be commissioned in Autumn 2016. Tim Emrich, CEO and founder of UK Power Reserve, said:
“In December 2014, we successfully won 348MW worth of new build contracts in the UK Capacity Market Auction, split across 22 sites, more than any other participant. To achieve this ambitious plan UKPR has assembled a dedicated development team of energy and utility engineers, legal counsel, planning officers and more, in a major resource expansion. In December 2015 UKPR successfully won a further 160MW worth of new build contracts in the second UK Capacity Market Auction. In both of the initial two Capacity Market auctions we have led all embedded generation in total new MW and we look forward to bringing this and additional capacity online to secure the UK’s energy supply for many years to come.
“I applaud Government and OFGEM’s endorsement of independent embedded generation in the UK through the annual Capacity Market, and I’m proud of our pole position in this energy revolution which finds decentralised, independent generation providing more and more of our country’s power.”
Mel Woodruff, Cummins product manager, commented: “UKPR has chosen to partner with Cummins for a number of key reasons, including support from global resources, customer service, leading-edge technologies, and a strong supply chain. The generator sets delivered to the Carrington site are just a part of a whole turnkey solution that will provide UKPR with efficient, cost effective and fast- 6th Floor, Radcliffe House, Blenheim Court, Solihull, B91 2AA, 0121 712 1987 www.ukpowerreserve.com responding power. We, at Cummins, are very excited about this and look forward to launching further sites this year.”
In 2014, UK Power Reserve placed one of the largest global natural gas generating set orders of its kind with Cummins, the turnkey contractors for the current development project. Cummins and UK Power Reserve have forged a strong working relationship and are aiming to deliver the total planned generating capacity well ahead of the contracted deadline. Much of Cummins’ supply chain and factories are UK-based. A typical UK Power Reserve generating plant consists of a series of modular natural gas generators producing an aggregated export of 20MW along with the associated balance of plant. These sites are designed in such a way that they can be controlled and monitored remotely from the UKPR ‘virtual power plant’ based in Solihull and are called upon to operate in the wholesale and ancillary services markets to help balance supply and demand in real time.
