One important aspect of distributed energy management is that prosumers, power consumers who also operate their own power generation, can actively participate in the electricity market.
With skyrocketing energy prices daily in the news, people and businesses are understandably worried about coping this winter, the more so the further north they are. The situation is not made any better by the gloomy predictions of energy shortages, or that in some countries, plans are being made for rolling blackouts.
We can’t go on using energy like nothing happened, because it doesn’t make economic sense. We can’t stop using energy altogether to save, because that will shut down vital functions both at home and in industry.
What is needed in-between is an intelligent energy management solution. Ideally, it pinches a little from here and there when possible, and intelligently makes energy available where it is needed at any given time.
Some coinciding trends point to the sensibility of implementing such a distributed setup. First, the need to manage energy cost. Second, the “green shift”, the increasing proportion of energy being generated by weather-dependent means. Third, the growing electrification of societies that requires a reliable supply of energy to work as intended.
One important aspect of distributed energy management is that prosumers, power consumers who also operate their own power generation, can actively participate in the electricity market. Because of the two-way connection to the grid, micro-producers can sell any surplus energy they generate to the retailer. Again, everyone wins.
Distributed energy management is an ideal solution not only for energy companies, but also for building owners, automation or heating system providers, electric vehicle charging providers, teleoperators, and public bodies like city or district administrations.
Bringing together up to hundreds of thousands of devices under one management allows demand response at scale. For example, the batteries of hundreds of electric vehicles connected to their charging stations could be used as a virtual power plant by depleting each of their batteries hardly noticeably if at the same time electricity is needed elsewhere. Similarly, charging can be timed to hours when electricity is at its cheapest. Everyone wins.
Consumers connected to any of these networks benefit from being able to monitor their own consumption, selling their surplus power, and being reimbursed for their participation in a virtual power plant setup.
Energy transition and the increasing use of renewable energy sources – wind being the most important as of now – changes the energy industry from centralized to distributed. This means that volatile power generation requires distributed energy management.
The entire energy system requires more flexibility. In practical terms, the increasingly weather-dependent and decentralized energy system needs to be digitally managed from production to consumption. Digitalization enables both system stability and new connected services.
In a wider picture, the energy system benefits from flexible balancing and load shifting, thereby avoiding peak power supply through fossil-fired power plants and distributing energy resources for maximum usability.
Tietoevry’s Distributed Energy Solution (DES) provides a platform to manage, control and aggregate energy assets regardless of manufacturer. DES is a cloud-native, modular solution for automated digital management of the whole value chain from energy generation to consumption.
Because DES is a disparate system that sits atop all the other underlying systems, it avoids the dreaded vendor lock-in. It works together with just about anything.
For an individual customer, being able to manage their personal carbon footprint, savings in energy cost and revenue for energy market participation are the most important takeaways.
To hear more about the Distributed Energy Solution, you’re most welcome to visit Tietoevry’s stand at Slush 2022 in Helsinki on 17–18 November. If you can’t make it, read more about DES on our website. Let’s keep in touch!