Welsh Power are developing a series of small natural gas fired peaking power stations with capacities between 10MW and 20MW referred to as Short Term Operation Reserve (STOR) facilities. Pre-performance test inspections were carried out to provide independent confirmation to Welsh Power that there were no safety, process or procedural barriers to the commencement of the performance test.

Fichtner witnessed the performance testing of the Dafen facility to;

• confirm the contractors compliance with the agreed methodology, and;
• provided independent verification to Welsh Power of the satisfactory completion of the testing.

Fichtner has continued to support Welsh Power with its STOR projects, helping with the development and refinement of the specification for a number of other planned STOR projects.

STOR is needed by the National Grid because at certain times of the day reserve power in the form of either generation or demand reduction is required to balance the actual demand for electricity with that being generated by major power stations. When required, STOR projects need to quickly boost the electricity being generated to ensure the lights stay on for consumers.