Mannok
The Challenge
To help strengthen sustainability throughout Mannok, the business has been making its large flexible electrical loads available via Demand Response to EirGrid, the Irish Market Grid Operator, over the past number of years.
However, Mannok wanted to do more to be part of Ireland’s continued journey to increased levels of renewable power and start providing Fast Frequency Response services. Next step was to find a partner to help strike the right balance between maximising financial return, enabling more renewable energy to be used on the grid and minimising operational impact.
Customer Background
Mannok, formerly Quinn Building Products, manufactures an extensive range of products for the construction sector ranging from cement and concrete products to plastics, radiators and insulation. The business has been growing successfully for almost 50 years and is one of the leading manufacturers of building and packaging products in Ireland, distributing throughout Europe.
Internationally recognized for developing sustainable products and solutions in the pursuit of environmental excellence, Mannok continuously invests in product development, service enhancement and the use of innovative technological solutions.
The Solution
Mannok turned to VIOTAS to deliver the technical expertise and technology it needed to provide Frequency Response services in EirGrid’s DS3 System Service Market. The VIOTAS technical sales team met with Mannok to understand the business and set demand response goals.
“As a large energy user, who is in pursuit of environmental excellence through our product development, we wanted to do more to support carbon reduction and boost renewable utilisation nationally. I engaged with VIOTAS Technical Sales to understand how Mannok could become an active grid participant by using our large flexible loads to provide Frequency Response service to the Irish grid. VIOTAS had the knowledge to provide me with the market details, road map, and confidence to proceed with our ambition to participate in the Frequency Response Market”.
Donal O’Rourke – Procurement Director
The Mannok team were clear that business continuity had to be ensured, with minimal operational impact throughout the equipment installation and commissioning phase. VIOTAS undertook a comprehensive technical investigation and delivered a complete integration plan to minimize any potential operational disruption. According to Maintenance Manager at Mannok, Michael McDonnell, “the VIOTAS Field Operations team presented me with a comprehensive project plan that provided the assurance that they had the technical expertise to effectively deliver the technology needed in a safe, timely, and controlled manner.”
The Result
Maximum Technical & Financial Benefit
From design phase, to installing and commissioning over 20 metering points and associated control equipment in a complex environment, the VIOTAS team expertly project managed each phase. Upon commissioning, Mannok’s site successfully completed market compliance tests and was able to participate, for the first time, across the full spectrum of Demand Side Flexibility services in the Irish electricity market.
The frequency response capability of VIOTAS proprietary technology has ensured that Mannok receives the highest Frequency Response payments on offer. Through our partnership, VIOTAS is now enabling over 20MW of Mannok’s flexible electrical loads to assist with the balancing and stabilization of the Irish power system. Our VIO Link technology releases these loads to the power system in less than 150 milliseconds providing maximum technical benefit to the power system and maximum financial benefit to Mannok.
“I see two clear benefits for Mannok participating in Demand Side Flexibility services with VIOTAS. Firstly, it supports our Corporate Social Responsibility goals. Secondly, it delivers a significant revenue for the business that can be used to deliver more sustainability and efficiency projects for our business. Our partnership with VIOTAS was made easy by a very open and transparent contracting process, led by VIOTAS’s Commercial Director”.
Dara O’Reilly – Chief Financial Officer
Maximised monthly payments for Frequency Response
