YELLOW POWER LTD: Behind the Meter, Ahead of the Game: Yellow Power’s Modular Edge
Yellow Power has carved itself a unique position in the UK energy market, able to engineer continuous and standby power supply for customers who need both resilience and reliability. With many struggling to connect to the grid, the solution is often a custom designed gas or diesel generator, applied and packaged in a bespoke way to meet customer expectations and requirements. Director Andy Chinnery talks to Energy Focus about how the company is seeing demand surge.
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Under the relentless pressures of net-zero targets and decarbonisation, grid bottlenecks and a shifting Capacity Market, Yellow Power Ltd has quietly become a lynchpin in the UK’s industrial power infrastructure. The Stoke‑on‑Trent‑based engineering specialist designs and delivers modular energy systems that help businesses and developers overcome the grid connection delays and transmission constraints that now shape the UK energy landscape.
Across the wider market, these delays have become a defining issue. The queue for new grid connections has swollen to an amount far exceeding the capacity it can actually supply by 2030 as regulators and the National Energy System Operator (NESO) overhaul how connections are managed. Manufacturers, renewables developers and industrial sites alike are facing waits of several years for grid access, slowing deployment of low‑carbon generation and undermining investment timelines. Developers have been told to expect waits of up to five years or more, and in some cases into the late 2030s, simply to secure a connection date — a velocity that is at odds with both fast paced net‑zero ambitions and commercial planning cycles.
For businesses smack in the middle of these structural challenges, Yellow Power Ltd’s proposition resonates because it doesn’t rely on waiting for grid reinforcement or network build‑outs. The company’s roots date back to 2009, when founders Russell Prevett and Andrew Chinnery spotted an upcoming and quickly widening gap between developers’ need for reliable power and the grid’s growing inability to deliver it at pace. Each with more than four decades of experience in energy engineering and technical sales, they set out to build a company capable of supplying resilient energy solutions, growing and adapting to become a provider of modular, fully integrated energy and power systems, combining technical excellence and commercial clarity.
Today, the business operates from a 27,000 ft2 workshop where mechanical, electrical and control‑systems expertise converge. As an approved System Integrator in the UK and Ireland for Rolls‑Royce mtu gas generators, its high-quality products sit at the heart of many of Yellow Power Ltd’s solutions. More than just an assembler of packages, Yellow Power has carved out a role as a go‑to partner for generation assets. Sized precisely to meet the needs of bespoke applications, be it Capacity Market requirements, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) demands, or behind‑the‑meter microgrid systems in tailored industrial applications.
Chinnery explains that the company’s workload reflects both national needs and market realities: “Currently, we are building multiple sets for operation in the UK’s Capacity Market, supporting the national grid at times of peak demand. This is run by NESO who award long term contracts for the supply of electricity to the grid at times of peak demand. Our gas peaking power modules are specifically designed for this application, which combined with the quality and reliability of the mtu product has resulted in a sizeable order book over the last few years.”
Interview with Andy Chinnery, Director
GRID PRESSURE
The capacity market mechanisms he refers to are designed to ensure the grid has sufficient dispatchable power during times when intermittent renewable generation is low — on windless nights or over prolonged periods without sunshine. In those moments, sites like those Yellow Power Ltd equips are called on to deliver the reserves that keep the lights on and industry running.
Alongside peak balancing work, there is a pronounced uptick in enquiries and projects in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) a sector where Yellow Power Ltd’s engineering depth comes to the fore. “We are seeing more demand and enquiries for CHP units which are sets that not only generate electricity but recover a similar amount of heat as electrical power. Typically, power generation is around 43% efficient, getting an equivalent amount of heat increases system efficiency above 80%. The technology is long-established and ideal for industrial processes, hospitals or anywhere that has a heat load. When combined with other technologies such as storage batteries, solar arrays forming a Micro Grid behind the meter, it removes the historic shackles normally associated with the load acceptance characteristics of a gas generator, and allows businesses to expand existing operations, or allows new developments to proceed without having to go back to the National Grid to try and get a costly upgrade to their electrical connection,” details Chinnery.
This approach encapsulates the company’s ethos: practical engineering that unlocks client ambitions without forcing a dependence on overburdened grid infrastructure. Where grid constraints loom large, Yellow Power Ltd’s systems can be deployed to sidestep lengthy reinforcement timelines and deliver energy when and precisely where it is needed. In many cases this means utilising brownfield industrial estates or repurposed commercial sites where intersections of existing gas distribution electricity grid network coincide to locate power generation assets.
Chinnery reflects on how the company tailors its approach to client competency and risk appetite. “When we assess a customer’s site, we can deliver anything from a bare generator set with minimal controls to a full EPC turnkey contract. Someone can give us the keys to the gate and handover the site for construction, and we give them back a fully operational power station. Sometimes, operators or developers prefer to split the works across disciplines, but this approach often leads to holes in the scope of supply between contractors and lacks the required integration. However, in all cases, we work closely with our clients and appreciate their individual needs.”
This flexibility allows Yellow Power Ltd to serve a broad range of clients: from those that simply want a factory‑built module assembled on site, to businesses seeking fully integrated, fully serviced energy infrastructure. And while the company sources its core gas engines — mainly mtu 4000 Series — from Rolls‑Royce, it brings these into bespoke, acoustically treated containers with control systems, cooling and exhaust arrangements engineered around a customer’s specific needs. “We try to design it so that the content is 80% generic and we can tailor that exactly to what our customer needs, and that is a key selling point. Other suppliers in the market simply put forward a pre‑built option with little or no customisation option,” Chinnery highlights.
STRONG BUSINESS UNITS
Power Response Modules have become a signature offering, typically installed on projects delivering up to around 20 MW of dispatchable output — enough for 25,000 households, during times of peak demand. Projects involving these modules go beyond just the generators and include civils, HV electrical switchgear and integration with control systems that can bring them online within stringent time constraints. In market conditions where response speed matters as much as generation capacity, that kind of rapid deployment is a key differentiator to power providers.
Yellow Power Ltd’s integrated approach shows up in the way it handles larger sites too. A recent project at Chatterley Whitfield in Stoke-on-Trent saw the company install a number of mtu gas generators with tight noise requirements and emission compliance due to the proximity of local housing. “As main contractor, we also completed all ancillary work, including civil works, electrical install, acoustic fencing and balance of plant” Chinnery says. “Now operating in the Capacity Market for one of our largest clients, the site is available to be called upon 24/7 any day of the year” This kind of turnkey execution – where engineering, installation and commissioning are all managed under one umbrella, helps reduce the fragmentation and delays that often afflict major project delivery.
As traditional grid connections are pushed further into the future due to regulatory queues and network capacity limits, Yellow Power Ltd is also seeing microgrids as a solution and moving to the forefront of its pipeline. Chinnery points to an example where his team were involved in a behind‑the‑meter system that dynamically balances gas, batteries and standby diesel based upon the monitoring of the site import meter. “We recently worked with a developer working for a national retailer to build a distribution centre. National Grid, when asked for a new connection for 2MW, responded with a lead time of approximately five years’ time, offering the client 200 kVA in the meantime. A Microgrid system was designed and built behind the client’s electrical meter.”
The solution included three 1MW mtu 8V4000 gas fuelled, fully packaged CHPs alongside two 1MW batteries, two standby 1,250 kVA diesel packages with up to 3 MWp of future solar integration. The supervisory control system also boasted weather forecasting integrated into consideration, ensuring the batteries charge and discharge at optimal times. This is also backed up with a 99% availability guarantee backed by mtu UK. This approach allowed the development to proceed without the electrical network reinforcement, a compelling outcome for a project where timelines and costs were hanging on grid access.
POWERFUL TEAM
Behind these projects is a team of around 35, all locally recruited for their individual engineering expertise. Chinnery emphasises the company’s commitment to nurturing talent and building in‑house capability. Apprenticeships, internal promotions and a close‑knit culture are part of how the business retains specialists who understand its systems inside out. “I remember earlier in my career when a former manager said to me: ‘people will pop up in your organisation because they are talented or more eager than others. If you push them back down and don’t let them grow, they will pop up in someone else’s organisation’. With that always in mind, we try our best to keep skills in the business,” he says, adding that developing future talent through apprenticeships and internal growth is central to Yellow Power Ltd’s long‑term strategy.
Alongside large power generation and energy system integration, the company is expanding its offering into lifecycle product support, along with a whole range of smaller power products. Service contracts, smaller retail diesel generator sets, and battery packages will help to broaden the offering, even out cash flow, and provide clients with dependable aftercare. “Whilst many of our customers maintain their own assets, we have long been asked to provide service and support for the equipment we produce, this is an exciting area of growth for us and we look forward to developing our offering in this area,” Chinnery explains.
Market politics around energy investment and the wider transition may shift, but the fundamentals that underpin Yellow Power Ltd’s business remain robust. “Rhetoric in the industry has resulted in some stemming of investment. But the country absolutely still needs a variety of fossil fuel‑fired backup energy for when renewables cannot produce. Our demand for electricity will always increase – that is a fact. There is an increasing number of enquiries from data centres alone who cannot get access to the grid, and they are now considering gas baseload power generation and Microgrids. If, for any reason, the UK cannot provide that, then developers and operators will go elsewhere in Europe where they can access the connections.”
That blend of strategic thinking, engineering depth and market responsiveness is exactly what has seen Yellow Power Ltd evolve from a regional supplier of generator sets into a nationally recognised partner in power balancing infrastructure. With Capacity Markets, microgrids, CHP projects and service expansions all in the mix, the company stands out not just for its technical offerings but for its ability to help clients turn constraints into opportunities.
“We want to be seen as the preferred partner for backup infrastructure, behind‑the‑meter power, and grid capacity balancing,” Chinnery says. “When we look back at some of the jobs we have done over the past 15 years, we realise how well we have done, and how well respected our product is. We are competing with, and winning against, national brands, installing complex and energy efficient projects. From that perspective, we are very pleased with our progress so far.”
In times when our grid is under strain, where connection lead times are stretched, and flexibility is a premium, Yellow Power Ltd’s combination of modular energy solutions, integration expertise, and strategic agility positions it perfectly within infrastructure conversations shaping the energy future of the UK’s.