The Power of Many

As the operator of one of Europe's largest Virtual Power Plants (VPP), we network thousands of electricity producers, consumers and storage facilities to build a strong team of renewables. That's why we don't just define us as an electricity trader, an energy service provider, or a cleantech company. First of all, we are "the Power of Many" for the energy transition!

Our Mission Is Networking

The core idea of our Virtual Power Plant is networking. Learn how the VPP creates some fundamental preconditions for the future energy system by aggregating renewables, connecting small plant operators to the markets, and merging a lot of data.

Renewable energy resources wind and solar.

Renewable Energies

Instead of a few large power plants, numerous small electricity producers will take over our energy supply in the future: from solar and wind power plants to biogas and hydroelectric assets. This multitude of decentralized energy ressources (DER) must be intelligently coordinated to ensure a reliable energy supply. That's exactly what our own VPP in Europe is doing – as well as other cleantech companies around the world that are implementing their own VPPs with technology and know-how from Next Kraftwerke.

Secondary reserve provided by a biogas plant in the Virtual Power Plant of Next Krafwerke.

People & Markets

The Power of Many also includes participation in the electricity markets: Only bundled in the VPP even small players reach the necessary size for benefiting from new market opportunities. As an electricity trader, we are operating 24/7 on all relevant European electricity markets. Here, we not only prove that renewables are competitive. Together with the participants in the Virtual Power Plant, we also contribute to balance frequency fluctuations and thus stabilize the power grid.

Know-how

Electricity traders, IT experts, engineers and energy economists work hand in hand in our company. This bundled expertise was essential for realizing our own vision and transforming from a Cologne-based start-up into an international cleantech player. As a first-mover in renewables trading, we are also one of the few German specialists in short-term trading and a leading renewables trader. To keep it that way, our in-house development team is continuously working on tweaking our systems, algorithms and processes, so that our technology always fits the highest requirements.

Data

We connect thousands of energy-producing and energy-consuming units by utilizing the full potential of digitalization. To successfully manage their power supply and demand, and to subsequently trade power with the highest profitability, we created an algorithm. This collects and merges data from a variety of sources: operational data from our VPP, current weather and grid data, and live market data. The accumulated data, combined with cutting-edge technology and deep market experience, makes us specialists for day-ahead, intraday and control reserve markets.

With our technology, we unite small decentralized plants, consumers and battery storage in a strong team.

Become part of it or use our VPP-as-a-service software yourself.

A Powerful Development

In 2009, Hendrik Sämisch and Jochen Schwill had the idea of aggregating emergency generators, wind turbines and biogas plants to compensate for fluctuations in the grid. They found investors, quit their jobs at the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne, rented an office space in Cologne-Ehrenfeld and started the cleantech company Next Kraftwerke. Which stages did they pass on the journey to becoming the largest VPP in Europe?