Britain’s Ecotricity has formed a partnership with Next Kraftwerke to create and operate a smart grid.
Ecotricity will use Next’s software platform to regulate and balance energy generation, storage and demand, across the whole of the country - in real time.
Ecotricity views this kind of smart grid operation (also referred to as a Virtual Power Plant) as an essential part of what a 21st century energy company needs to do, taking responsibility for the real time balancing supply and demand using smart technology.
Connecting electricity generators, consumers and storage systems to a single digital platform, will enable them all to work together to create a more sustainable and secure energy grid.
Businesses with energy storage systems, energy generators and customers that can manage their demand will all be able to benefit financially from being part of this new approach to energy.
Ecotricity are the first company to use Next’s new NEMOCS platform, which uses algorithms to monitor and manage energy assets (generation, storage and demand) to better balance supply and demand in real time.
Mark Meyrick, head of smart grids, from Ecotricity said, “We’ve been watching Next’s activities in the flexibility space for a while and are big admirers of what they’ve achieved. As a result we’re very happy and excited to be partnering with such an innovative organisation who match our pioneering values and commitment to renewable energy. This is a ground-breaking project and it will really help to enable our aspirations in the storage space, and manage our energy effectively.”
Jochen Schwill, CEO and co-founder of Next Kraftwerke, added: “We have developed NEMOCS building on everything we have learned over the past 10 years, because we strongly believe that it is important to use all the flexibility which already is on the market to make the energy system more efficient. NEMOCS provides a way to do so and we are happy to now cooperate with Ecotricity, one of the green energy pioneers, to optimise their production.”
