Statkraft/Germany
Ancillary Power from Renewable Energies through Virtual Power Plant
With the first intelligent wind farm in Germany in 2012 and its participation in the 2016 balancing energy market, the energy giant Statkraft and energy & meteo systems belong to the pioneers in the energy sector. Decisive in this regard were the Virtual Power Plant and our power predictions, enabling us to comprehensibly guide Europe's largest generator of renewable energies in its introduction of direct marketing.
Remote Control and real-time Data
The pilot wind farm was the first one directly marketed and continuously regulated. Moreover, it can give real-time information on its electricity production via an interface developed by us. Power generation is adjusted in seconds to reflect market demands through permanently matching to our predictions, thus allowing wind energy to be efficiently marketed. Of crucial importance is the fast communication of the individual generating facilities with the central controlling unit as only precise, real-time data allows for flexible and demand-oriented production.
In Germany, Statkraft has bundled more than 1.600 wind and solar parks with a total capacity of approximately 12.000 MW to form Europe's largest virtual power plant. In a matter of seconds, control signals, predictions and information on the actual power being generated are exchanged. This means that generation can be shut off within seconds and shut back on when necessary.
Marketing Balancing Energy
A further milestone which Statkraft and energy & meteo systems were able to launch together was the delivery of balancing energy from wind power. As the first company in Germany, Statkraft first participated in the beginning of 2016 with a pool of wind farms in the balancing energy market. This allowed the Virtual Power Plant to offer negative minute reserves, as the power of the facilities could be automatically precisely throttled.
This revolution of fluctuating generating facilities was preceded by complex coordination processes, especially among transmission grid operators in reference to pre-qualification procedures for minute reserves from wind farms. Statkraft, Germany's largest direct marketer, and energy & meteo systems are thus significant participants in securing system stability through renewable energies.