IN Brief:
- SSEN has completed a live day-ahead flexibility trial in Maidenhead during planned maintenance works.
- The trial secured 507kW across three participating assets over a two-week period.
- The work adds a short-notice market route to outage management as distribution networks move closer to real-time flexibility dispatch.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks has completed an early-stage live trial using day-ahead markets to support customer supplies during planned maintenance in Maidenhead, marking a further step in the use of short-notice flexibility on the distribution network.
The two-week trial used low volumes of procured flexibility while engineers carried out essential maintenance. SSEN said the approach helped keep supplies stable and reduced the number of homes and businesses at risk of losing power during the works. The requirement was published one day before delivery, with a small number of providers invited to reduce demand or adjust generation during evening peak periods.
The market was configured and launched within a week with Electron’s platform, ElectronConnect, used to collect and evaluate responses. SSEN said volumes were deliberately limited so the process could be tested under controlled conditions before any wider rollout. Across the trial window, the market secured 507kW of flexibility from three assets.
The company said the use of a day-ahead market increased the available window for planned works and made it possible to carry out maintenance during higher-demand periods without relying solely on longer-term contracts. It also tested outage management as an additional use case for flexibility procurement, creating a route for providers to participate at shorter notice.
SSEN is now reviewing the operational and commercial results with Electron as it considers whether day-ahead flexibility should become part of regular outage management. The trial also lands alongside SSEN’s wider March 2026 operational decision-making updates, which now include day-ahead market activity within dispatch decisions.
