In 2018, TenneT started a pilot with seven selected parties, one of which was Scholt Energy in collaboration with Enervalis. In the transition to a sustainable energy system, the balancing role of fossil power stations, fired with, for example, coal or natural gas, is decreasing. The number of decentralised, sustainable energy sources is increasing strongly and are therefore capable of becoming a CO2-free alternative to maintaining the equilibrium (balance) between supply and demand of electricity, ensuring that the electricity grid remains stable. The pilot phase was completed last summer. It was demonstrated that decentralised energy sources are capable of supplying regulating power for maintaining a balanced grid.
Scholt Energy and Enervalis have now been the first to succeed in deploying a decentralised energy source, the Giessenwind wind farm near Giessenburg, in TenneT’s production environment. This success contributes to the energy transition and at the same time creates an extra revenue model for producers of wind energy.
Communication technology
In the pilot, new data communication technologies were tested to enable TenneT and suppliers of flexible electricity generation to exchange the information necessary for balancing. This was facilitated through the blockchain-based Crowd Balancing Platform (CBP) Equigy. Equigy also makes it possible for smaller energy producers to offer their electricity for energy system balancing and to be rewarded for doing so.
Reducing overproduction
Every four seconds, the wind turbines inform the Enervalis Platform about present production and what expected production should be based on the wind speed. If regulating power is supplied to TenneT, these two values deviate. Periods of overproduction on the grid – too much electricity supplied in relation to demand – can be reduced with this form of regulating power. The Giessenwind wind farm now handles a small part of this. This technique can also be applied to solar parks. Instead of the wind speed, solar radiation is then taken into account.
Scholt Energy worked as a balancing service provider (BSP) together with energy management specialist Enervalis to integrate the wind farm on TenneT’s digital platform, Equigy.
Bert Eissen, Director Energy Transition Services at Scholt Energy: “We are very proud to be the first to be able to supply decentralised regulating power with wind turbines. In this way we are contributing to accelerating the energy transition and at the same time offering our customers an extra revenue model.”