Procurement of Restoration (Black Start) services is defined in the Black Start Strategy and Procurement Methodology which will be replaced by the new Electricity System Restoration (ESR) Assurance Framework to be published in April 2022.
The principles of this procurement methodology are:
A clear and transparent requirement.
Enabling competition, where appropriate.
Reducing and removing barriers to entry to enable broader participation.
In order to meet the requirements of the Electricity System Restoration Standard (ESRS) we want to encourage a diverse mix of technologies and locations to provide restoration services. We also need to ensure that costs are optimised and the services are procured efficiently which is best done by procuring these services using competitive markets.
The ESO believes that efficient costs for transmission and distribution network changes in direct support of ESRS should be recouped through their respective price controls and that network companies should have appropriate terms in their licence to enable recovery of costs associated with implementation of the ESRS.
The Markets and Funding Mechanism working group will understand how to further remove market and/or funding barriers (real or perceived) and assist in the development of agile solutions for restoration.
Please also note we have published our consultation on the Assurance Framework as part of the ESO Licence condition. This consultation shall also last for 30 days like the ESRS consultation and closes on the 17 December 2021.
Please send all responses to [email protected]
Working group documents
ESRS - Markets and Funding Mechanism - Terms of Reference