Companies running up against the limits of capacity on the existing power grid: it is the order of the day. The need to make our energy system more sustainable is causing more electrification. As a result, the demand for (renewable) energy is growing rapidly and today's infrastructure is coming under increasing pressure. Reinforcing the grid is expensive and time-consuming. As a company, you often have to wait a long time until you are finally connected to the grid. Isn't there another way? In this blog you can read about the possibilities.
Use the grid better and save costs
It can certainly be done differently. One alternative is to look at how the available electricity network can be better utilized. For example, by having companies exchange power among themselves. A good practical example is that of the port area of Amsterdam. Here they have been doing this since 2017 through the Shared Energy Platform, or SEP for short.
SEP is an initiative of the Amsterdam Port Authority. They are one of ENTRNCE's first customers. Through the platform, companies can exchange energy among themselves and cooperate smartly at peak times. The platform ensures that every 15 minutes the supply and demand of electricity for the connected companies is optimally matched. After mutual exchange has taken place, shortages and surpluses are automatically supplemented from the wholesale market, so that supply and demand are balanced every 15 minutes. This makes better use of the grid and saves costs.
Robin Schipper (founder of SEP): "We focus on optimizing the energy supply. By providing insight into energy flows it becomes clear how consumption and generation in the area can be coordinated as much as possible. For example, by switching appliances on when there is a lot of sustainable generation and off when it is not available. And by skipping the middlemen in the energy market, we save costs. In this way we are able to supply 100% green power for the price of gray."
Avoiding congestion and creating space on the grid
Robin Schipper saw years ago that companies would start running into the limits of capacity on the existing grid and started talking to them. "If everyone assumes that power is always available and consumption is not matched, that creates problems on the grid. We solve this problem partly by making sure that companies coordinate with each other so that when one peaks, the other does not. This is how we balance the grid per substation, to prevent congestion. It ensures that the capacity on the grid is used more optimally. This also creates more space for companies that are waiting for a connection to the grid or want to expand."
Correcting imbalance and avoiding penalties
Since recently it has been possible for ENTRNCE users to trade independently intraday on the ETPA trading market. This can prevent avoidable imbalance costs because corrections can be made on the same day. Settlement via ENTRNCE is automatic with the corrected data.
For example: from a forecast of a wind farm, an order is made by SEP to supply power to companies in the immediate area. But on the day itself, the wind turbine suffers a failure and is unable to supply the predicted power. Or it blows harder/slower than originally predicted. As a result, the wind turbine causes imbalance. By buying or selling the same amount of power on the intraday market, the imbalance is corrected and the associated costs are avoided. These costs can be substantial, making the savings significant. At some points in time, the imbalance costs are negative. This makes it possible to earn money by consuming power. Supply to customers is also corrected. In this case, for example, they receive power from a neighboring solar park.
Preventing congestion with GOPACS
By linking ENTRNCE with ETPA, it is now also possible for SEP to contribute to GOPACS, the grid operators' platform for preventing congestion on the grid. When a grid operator expects congestion, it places a call via GOPACS for market participants to help prevent congestion. This help is through open bids on intraday markets such as ETPA that cannot yet be matched because their prices are too far apart. GOPACS is used to check that the placed call does not cause problems at other places in the participating grid operators' power grids. If all signals are green, the grid operators pay the price difference between the two orders so that they can be matched on the trading platform and this congestion situation resolved. Thanks to the use of two orders, the balance in the energy system can be safeguarded.
Because it allows grid operators to resolve the congestion situation, it is possible to make more optimal use of the available infrastructure. As a result, more companies can be supplied with their required energy demand. In addition, market parties who contribute to solving congestion can generate additional income. A nice win-win situation.
Connection provides many benefits
A connection of ENTRNCE to the intraday market provides many benefits, including significant savings on imbalance costs. The same interconnection, through a connection to GOPACS, helps prevent congestion on the grid, which in addition to providing additional space on the grid, can generate additional revenue.
