London, 4th January 2024 – Piclo and National Grid Electricity Distribution have announced a strategic partnership aimed at simplifying access for Flexibility Service Providers (FSP) into local distribution Flexibility Markets.

From January 2024, more than 150 flex sellers with more than 60,000 assets registered on Piclo will have direct access to National Grid’s Low Voltage Flexibility Opportunities, seeking to trade over 90MW of local flexibility.

As the importance of flexibility in the UK’s electricity system increases, National Grid is committed to maximising market participation while simplifying the process for FSPs. In pursuit of this goal, National Grid is partnering with Piclo to build interfaces to their Market Gateway platform which will enable FSPs operating on the Piclo platform to seamlessly access and participate in National Grid’s distribution flexibility market territories.

In November 2023, Piclo announced its new product Piclo Max – a world-first solution to access all electricity markets from one place. The partnership with National Grid is the first stage of Piclo’s ambition to enable flex sellers to access all six local flexibility markets from Piclo Max, with further UK electricity markets throughout 2024; followed by additional global markets.

Piclo CEO and Co-founder, James Johnston, said:

“This collaboration is all about unlocking the potential of market interoperability. For the first time, FSPs have a choice regarding how they experience and interact with UK flex markets. It’s a significant milestone for market accessibility and a critical step towards enabling revenue stacking”.

Matt Watson, Head of Commercial and Operability at National Grid, said:

“This is our first step towards opening up our Market Gateway platform for wider market entry and the interfaces we’re developing with Piclo will provide FSPs with greater choice on how they enter the distribution flexibility market. We hope to see an increase in the offers available to us and importantly we’ll be able to make fair decisions on market clearing regardless of which platform the FSP trades through.”

About National Grid

National Grid Electricity Distribution operates the electricity transmission network in England and Wales and is the distribution network operator for the Midlands, South West England and South Wales. National Grid is committed to creating a smarter, more efficient energy system for customers – and to helping the UK achieve net zero – through its industry-leading innovation programme. National Grid is involved in a number of ground-breaking projects to support the mass adoption of electric vehicles and decarbonisation of power, placing it at the forefront of the country’s green recovery. You can find out more about National Grid’s distribution network via: https://www.nationalgrid.com/electricity-distribution

For further information please contact National Grid’s media team at 0117 933 2005 or Piclo via comms@piclo.energy

About Piclo 

Piclo’s mission is to decarbonise the grid. We develop software solutions that make our energy networks smarter, flexible and more sustainable. Piclo Max, our market access platform, enables flex sellers (such as EV and battery owners) to access all electricity markets from one place. Piclo Flex, our flexibility services marketplace, enables flex buyers (system operators) to source flexible electricity from flex sellers during times of high demand or low supply. 

To date, Piclo has over 60,000 registered flexible assets representing 19GW of registered flex capacity, with flexibility contracts awarded totalling £74m and 2.6GW+ of flexible capacity procured.

Piclo Flex currently operates in six global markets: in the UK, supporting four Distribution System Operators (UK Power Networks, SP Energy Networks, Electricity North West and Northern Powergrid); and the Transmission System Operator (TSO) (the ESO); in Ireland (ESB Networks), Italy (E-Distribuzione), Portugal (E-REDES), Lithuania (Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB (ESO)), and in the United States in New York State (National Grid). Aside from its leading position in the UK, Piclo has a growing presence in Europe and the USA.

For more information please visit our website, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and watch us on YouTube.

Register to Piclo Flex here: picloflex.com