Reactive flexibility
Use your asset to stabilize the power grid
The increased volatile feed-in of renewable energies also brought a challenge to managing grids: a stronger fluctuating grid frequency. These fluctuations need to be minimized in order to keep a stable grid. Aggregated in a Virtual Power Plant, distributed assets can play a vital role in levelling out these fluctuations. Smaller units often have a shorter reaction time and combined in a VPP they offer a higher granularity in catching fluctuations.
Today, not only can large power plants provide ancillary services in order to stabilize the grid frequency. Aggregated in a Virtual Power Plant, distributed small-scale producers and C&I-consumers alike can help stabilizing the grid frequency. Next Kraftwerke is active in seven European TSO areas providing ancillary services.
Options for reactive flexibility
Ancillary service from distributed assets
Use the fast reaction times of your asset to support the grid frequency and gain additional revenues.
Ancillary services
Demand response with industrial processes
Utilize the flexibility of your power consumption in order to stabilize the grid frequency.
Demand response
control-reserve
Ancillary services from distributed assets
A stable grid is vital for a functioning power supply. Aggregated in a VPP, distributed assets can also make important contributions to the stability of a power grid.
Different countries have varying ancillary products and requirements. But generally speaking, if you are operating an asset that has the capability of ramping up or down its power production, you can provide stabilizing services through a Virtual Power Plant.
Once your asset is prequalified (technically and functionally checked for complying with the transmission code), the unit will be part of the VPP providing grid frequency control or similar ancillary services.
In case of a frequency imbalance the VPP will receive an order from the TSO requesting a certain amount of power in order to balance out frequency deviations.
This call will be divided into smaller chunks, since the individual assets of the VPP usually can only provide a fraction of the needed power. The algorithm of the VPP decides which asset will provide how much power. The activation of each individual asset happens automatically via M2M communication.
Bringing your asset to the ancillary service markets is basically done in three simple steps
- An encrypted connection is established via the Next Box remote control unit
- The unit needs to be prequalified to comply to the TSO regulations for providing ancillary services
- The asset owner receives revenues according to his contribution to grid stability
For providing ancillary services, your asset needs to provide the following features:
- Continuous power production
- Possibility for remote control of your asset
- Fast reaction time of your asset's power production
Demand-response
Demand response
Power consumption processes of C&I consumers can play an important role in providing ancillary services and help owners to generate additional profit. The provision of reactive flexibility does not interfere with the main purpose of the industrial purpose. The operator or factory owner sets the restrictions in which the process can provide flexibility. The actual call for flexibility only uses a fraction of the entire consumption process.
More consumption processes than you might imagine are suitable for providing ancillary services. The following aspects are indicators that your process might also be able to provide demand response services:
- Continuous power consumption
- Possibility to temporarily reduce load within the consumption process
- Possibility to ramp up the consumption on short notice
- Do you have a buffer (batteries or storage tanks, silos)?
- Automated consumption control via process control technology
- Do you have your own power production on the companies premises (CHP, emergency generators, power to heat, etc.)
Whether it is power to gas or power to heat –power-to-X technologies have a great advantage: they already provide their own storage. Especially power to heat units are suitable, since heat is a rather inert mass. This means, that short deviations in their production in order to provide ancillary services won't affect the heat production. This makes power-to-X a really versatile provider of ancillary services.
Do you operate behind-the-meter generators such as emergency generators or CHPs on your premises? Use this potential for generating additional revenues, because these assets offer something valuable to any power grid: flexibility. Integrated in a Virtual Power Plant these assets can easily provide ancillary services. Of course, the main purpose of your asset will not change. Providing ancillary service will always be its secondary purpose. But this is a chance to generate revenues, where you usually only produce costs.
- Generate revenues where you usually only have costs
- Be a part of the energy transition and help stabilizing the grid
- Everything under one roof: From customer care to our technical plant integration and power trading – with Next Kraftwerke you'll never have to deal with external hotlines or other third parties
- Full transparency: no hidden costs for market access. Fixed profit sharing model
nemocs
NEMOCS
Operate your own Virtual Power Plant
Next Kraftwerke operates one of the largest Virtual Power Plants in Europe. Benefit from our experience in aggregating distributed units and establish your own Virtual Power Plant. Our VPP as a service solution NEMOCS is a SaaS product specifically developed to your needs for setting up a Virtual Power Plant.
NEMOCS is prepared for a wide range of different technologies that can be connected to the Virtual Power Plant. The connection is realized over a single standard interface. This allows for remote control of all aggregated assets. NEMOCS is open for power producers, power consumers, and storage units alike.
Monitor and display different status information in real-time such as current capacity, storage levels, and standby status of your assets. Always know how much capacity your VPP is able to provide.
Display the information you need: The graphical user interface of NEMOCS offers filters technology type, customer groups, or location.
NEMOCS provides high-performance data processing ranging from TSO grid and set-point signals to pricing indicators from energy markets. NEMOCS processes these signals into operational commands for the aggregated assets. Using standardized interfaces (API) the accumulated data can be used directly in conjunction with your master data, trading, or accounting systems.
Provide peak-load operation with NEMOCS. Use the collected data from the aggregated assets and additional information such as market and weather data to generate optimized schedules for your assets and generate additional revenue. Also use NEMOCS to provide demand response management and ancillary services to your TSO.
Automatic remote control of all assets guarantees for the best possible operation of all assets and ensures exact schedule execution. Of course, individual restrictions for individual assets can be stored into the database. Short-term changes to the operating schedule are possible.
Get started
And there's a lot more to learn about NEMOCS. For a detailed overview about our VPP as a service solution, please visit our dedicated product website.
Numbers & facts
Prequalified R1 (in Europe)
Prequalified R2 (in Europe)
Prequalified R3 (in Europe)
Ancillary service provided in
References
All under one roof
Providing such services can be a challenging task – especially if providing ancillary services isn't your primary scope of business. In order to offer you the best possible service, Next Kraftwerke has all departments working under one roof at our headquarters in Cologne – from engineers, to power traders, customer relations and sales managers are here to help you help providing ancillary services as easy and smooth as possible.
Contact us
Please fill out the form below to contact us regarding ancillary services from distributed assets, your demand response options or our VPP-software as a service NEMOCS.