EDF, Vattenfall, E.ON among winners of UK grid's first battery contracts

(Updates with details)

LONDON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - EDF Renewables, Vattenfall and Eon (Taiwan OTC: 3411.TWO - news) were among seven companies which won four-year contracts with Britain's National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) to supply super fast balancing services, National Grid, said on Friday.

The contracts are the first Britain's power grid operator has awarded to battery storage technology, and were worth at total of 66 million pounds.

National Grid needs to balance electricity supply and demand on the grid on a second-by-second basis to make sure the system runs efficiently.

A total of 201 megawatts (MW) of capacity -- roughly the same amount as produced by a small power station -- was secured from seven companies at eight different sites, with the earliest contract starting in October 2017 and the latest in March 2018.

The amount each company was awarded depended on the amount of capacity offered and how long it would be available for.

Contract winners under the Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) tender, have to provide power within one second and maintain 100 percent of the capacity offered for at least 15 minutes.

This compared with traditional balancing services which have response times of around 10 to 30 seconds.

The tender was technology neutral, meaning any type of capacity could apply, but the fast pace requirements meant the majority of companies bidding offered battery technology.

Other winners were Low Carbon Storage Investment Company, Element Power, Renewable Energy Systems (RES) and Belectric. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; editing by Jason Neely and David Evans)