It does not make sense to ignore assets, leaving them idle, collecting dust and slowly degenerating (excuse the pun). Ask yourself why we spend thousands of pounds on standby generation just to have it lying dormant, gathering dust? Surely it makes much more sense to generate a profit from at least some of these assets.
With the continued expansion of wind energy the national grid need to increase their ability to cope with power fluctuations. They are already discussing ways in which they can encourage increased participation in Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR).
What is the solution? One solution is to increase use of embedded generation