News

Next Kraftwerke, one of Europe’s largest Virtual Power Plants, has teamed up with sustainable energy company Eneco Belgium and battery supplier Alfen to integrate a 2-megawatt battery to its Virtual Power Plant Next Pool. The battery provides frequency control reserve (FCR) to the Belgian grid. The battery is connected through the Next Box, a remote-control More…

Next Kraftwerke has entered into a new cooperation with AgroEnergy and Tenergy. AgroEnergy is one of the biggest energy suppliers for CHPs in greenhouses in the Netherlands. Tenergy supports AgroEnergy in marketing the power generated by the CHPs. Next Kraftwerke has now linked more than 20 of these greenhouses with several CHPs and several tens More…

British green electricity company Ecotricity is the first client to implement NEMOCS, Next Kraftwerke’s new software-as-a-service solution. The German Virtual Power Plant operator recently introduced NEMOCS to third parties as a way to network and optimize operation of power-producing and consuming units. NEMOCS can connect thousands of assets. Their data is processed live, and NEMOCS More…

Sustainable waste management company Vanheede, sustainable energy supplier Eoly, and Virtual Power Plant operator Next Kraftwerke have teamed up to optimize management of the Vanheede energy portfolio. With its large shares of green power generated from wind, solar, and biogas sources, Vanheede is effectively a net-producer of electricity from the green and sustainable sources included More…

Starting in March 2018, Elektrownie Next will manage trading of 35 megawatts (MW) of electricity produced by new photovoltaic installations belonging to ReneSola, a producer and distributer of energy-efficient lighting products and solar technology. Elektrownie Next is a part of Next Kraftwerke, one of the largest Virtual Power Plants in Europe, and specializes in short-term More…

Eoly is kicking things off with NEXTRA. The Belgian energy company is the first customer to put Next Kraftwerke‘s new trading platform, NEXTRA, to use. NEXTRA allows energy producers and consumers to trade on energy markets all over Europe - without the need for expensive licenses and the investment associated with establishing connections to exchanges. This gives new More…

At E-world 2018 in Essen, Cologne-based Next Kraftwerke is introducing NEMOCS, a new service that allows users to operate their own virtual power plant.Utilities and grid operators can use NEMOCS to network decentralized energy market assets - such as producers, consumers, and storage units - to aggregate their capacity and flexibility. Each individual asset can be operated as More…

Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) can reliably provide secondary reserve (R2) to the Belgium grid. This is the result of a pilot project transmission system operator (TSO) Elia has conducted with its partners Next Kraftwerke, Actility and EDF Luminus. The pilot project’s object was to test whether alternative technologies such as Virtual Power Plants can reliably More…

The Next Pool virtual power plant grew by 1.35 gigawatts (GW) to a total of four GW in 2017. That is an increase of 50 percent compared to the size of the portfolio at the end of 2016. The growth further cements Next Kraftwerke’s position as one of the largest virtual power plants in Europe. More…

Elektrownie Next signed a deal to forecast and trade 100MW of wind power from Polish operator EOLOS Polska Sp. Zo.o., a subsidiary of Terna Energy S.A. Starting January 1st, 2018, EOLOS will receive a fixed price for one year, while Elektrownie Next takes over forecasting, trading at the Polish energy exchange TGE, and balancing risks. More…

Starting on January 1, 2018, Next Kraftwerke will provide the Lake Constance Water Supply Association (Zweckverband Bodensee-Wasserversorgung) with the flexible energy tariff package “Best of 96”. The six water pumps at the Süßenmühle pumping station on the banks of Lake Constance will soon play a significant role in supplying the German energy grid with around More…

Aiming to strengthen its position on the European energy markets, German Virtual Power Plant and energy trader Next Kraftwerke has bought the remaining shares of the Dutch energy startup Energie365. Next Kraftwerke made its initial acquisition of Energie365 shares at the beginning of 2016. On July 1st 2017, Hendrik Koetsier and Bas Hijman, founders of More…

Next Kraftwerke was awarded with the Intersolar Award 2017 for PV forecasting and power trading through the Virtual Power Plant. For more than ten years, the internationally renowned Intersolar Award honors innovation in the field of photovoltaics with a focus on technology and services. Especially the way how Next Kraftwerke handles the forecast and monitoring More…

Milan/Cologne Next Kraftwerke, operator of one of the largest Virtual Power Plants in Europe, expands its operation to Italy. Together with the newly founded Centrali Next, Next Kraftwerke markets the electricity of decentralized renewable energy producers and aggregates them in the Virtual Power Plant Next Pool – with reduced costs and future opportunities for Italian More…

Rotterdam/Cologne Dutch sustainable energy company Eneco Group has acquired a minority interest of 34% in Germany-based Next Kraftwerke, operator of one of the largest Virtual Power Plants (VPP) in Europe. The investment will allow for the further strategic expansion of Next Kraftwerke in Europe and contribute to the joint ambition of Eneco Group and Next More…

Next Kraftwerke is featured in this year's FT1000 list of Europe's fastest growing companies. In the FT1000, the Financial Times and Statista have identified the 1,000 companies in Europe that have achieved the highest percentage growth in revenues between 2012 and 2015. Next Kraftwerke ranks at place 175 overall and at place 7 within the More…

How can smaller energy consumers be intelligently networked and controlled to create a power system with a high proportion of renewables and an adequate amount of flexibility? Next Kraftwerke partner with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (MITSUI), Japan-based trading, investment and service enterprises, to work on an international demonstration project, which is funded by Japan's New More…

Next Kraftwerke and Bern’s Rezek Solutions GmbH are launching a joint venture, Suisse Next GmbH, in Bern to bring the Next Pool Virtual Power Plant to the Swiss control reserve market. The Virtual Power Plant pools renewable energies and makes them available on the control reserve market. Since 2010, Next Kraftwerke has used the Next More…

Next Kraftwerke’s central control system has integrated the innovative Power-to-Gas unit in its Virtual Power Plant “Next Pool” and controls the electrolyzer in case of an excess of solar and wind power in the distribution network area. The electrolyzer, operated by Greenpeace Energy and the public utility in Bavarian Haßfurt, has a capacity of 1.25 More…

Brussels-based Next Kraftwerke Belgium has successfully provided primary control reserve (R1) to transmission system operator Elia by networking the power generation of many small renewable generators. With its Virtual Power Plant (VPP), Next Kraftwerke brings a new concept to Belgium and is the first company in Belgium to provide primary reserve control on lower voltage More…

"Among the threats facing incumbent utilities are virtual or digital utilities", writes Fereidoon Sioshansi. If you want to know why, read his article on reneweconomy.com … .

The “Good Practice of the Year” jury has chosen Next Kraftwerke’s Virtual Power Plant Next Pool as the 2016 “Technology & Design” winner, stating it is an immense asset in the transformation of the power grid. “We are happy to receive the ‘Good Practice of the Year’ Award and are excited to see that others More…

Next Kraftwerke, which operates in several European countries, has now expanded its Virtual Power Plant to Poland. As a licensed Polish power trader, Next Kraftwerke jointly with Elektrownie Next sp.z o.o. markets electricity from Polish renewable energy sources via the Virtual Power Plant Next Pool. Elektrownie Next is a fully-owned subsidiary of Next Kraftwerke, which More…

Founded in Germany, Next Kraftwerke now has built a presence in Austria, Belgium and, lately, France and the Netherlands. Our CEO and founder, Jochen Schwill, spoke to Reuters about expanding Next Kraftwerke's business model. Read the whole piece here …

In Germany, a lot has been written about two energy megatrends of our time, liberalisation of energy markets and decentralisation of the energy landscape. Hendrik Sämisch, CEO and founder of Next Kraftwerke, has written a piece on a third megatrend, which we think has been neglected: digitalisation. Read it on www.euractiv.com …

Next Kraftwerke and Utrecht-based Energie365 B.V. have teamed up to start a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) in the Netherlands. Together, they aim to provide control reserve energy for the Dutch electricity market. As part of the process, Next Kraftwerke has also purchased shares in Energie365. Founded in 2013, Energie365 aims at aggregating flexibility of decentralized More…

With about 3,000 linked units in three countries, Next Kraftwerke now networks a capacity of 2,000 MW. Among other energy sources, the Virtual Power Plant includes biogas, wind, and solar power generators. After starting operations in 2009, Next Kraftwerke's VPP today is one of the biggest Virtual Power Plants in Europe….

Next Kraftwerke’s CEO, Hendrik Sämisch, took a look on current developments on the German energy market while speaking with Argus Media. He stated Germany should rely on its short-term power markets to balance out rising intermittent renewable power generation and deliver the most cost-effective flexibility options. Read more…

The World Economic Forum in cooperation with Accenture explains our business model in its White Paper on the digital transformation of the electricity industry. In the analysis the World Economic Forum considers the impact of digital transformation on electricity across the value chain, from generation and transmission to distribution and consumption, and among residential and More…

Next Kraftwerke, operator of one of the largest Virtual Power Plants in Europe, today announced it has been included in the Cleantech Group’s prestigious Global Cleantech 100 for 2015. The Global Cleantech 100 represents the most innovative and promising ideas in cleantech. Featured companies are considered to be best positioned to solve the clean technology More…

With a new online tool for assets with an installed capacity below 800 kW, Next Kraftwerke has opened its Virtual Power Plant (VPP) to smaller photovoltaic systems. Registration takes only a few clicks and can be completed by operators in just a few minutes. Expanding the scope of the VPP comes in response to a More…

In reaction to the new French energy transition law Next Kraftwerke opens up its Virtual Power Plan to French units. Centrales Next SAS is the name of the French sub company. Centrales Next offers products in the field of energy trading and aggregation of flexibility. “Having decided to extend renewable energies, the French government set More…

Well, we don't know if we are the smartest. However, we're sure happy to help innovate European electricity markets as best as we can. We spoke about Next Kraftwerke with Chris Cooper. Read his article on One Step Off The Grid…

UL, an American worldwide safety consulting and certification company, recently conducted a study to learn what makes Germany unique when it comes to renewable energy usage. Next Kraftwerke is one example on how the energy transformation is taking place in Germany. In her White Paper “Putting the Pieces Together: Transition and Transformation in Global Energy More…

Bloomberg Business spoke with our CEO Hendrik Sämisch about the challenges of trading solar power, especially given the ever-growing number of solar panel installations and volatile weather conditions. Read the full article…

On June 2nd 2015, Next Kraftwerke was named winner of the 2015 EURELECTRIC Industry Award at the EURELECTRIC Annual Convention & Conference in Berlin. We are honored to receive this prestigious award and would like to share the acceptance speech of Lisann Krautzberger, CEO of Next Kraftwerke’s Austrian subsidiary. "First of all, dear Mr Mexia, More…

The German VPP sector is growing rapidly. An overview of trends and recent developments as well as some insight into our own VPP can be found in Eric Marx' story "Germany adds 'virtual power plants' to experiments with its grid" for E&E…

London-based journalist Tim Probert looked into current developments in the German energy market and takes a closer look at our VPP as well. Read the full story at 'Intelligent Utility'…

'Made in Germany', a program by Deutsche Welle, visited our headquarters and one of our customers to introduce our VPP to a larger audience. Take a look…

Our CEO Jochen Schwill talked to Reuters about the foundation of Next Kraftwerke and its short-term prospects. Read the story on Reuters' Website…

Our CEO Hendrik Sämisch talked to GTAI about Next Kraftwerke's plans and what's 'smart' about the company's technology. Continue reading…