Ecotricity tasks virtual power plant with energy development

Ecotricity and Next Kraftwerke have teamed up to create a greener smart grid in a bid to regulate the UK’s energy demand, storage and generation in “real-time.”

The Gloucestershire-based green energy company claimed it is the first to use the German virtual power plant operator-Next Kraftwerke’s, new software platform called NEMOCS that uses algorithms to monitor and balance these energy assets.

The software launched last week at the All-Energy conference in Glasgow’s SEC on the 2-3 May. It allows businesses with energy storage systems, energy generators and customers to manage their demand and benefit financially.

Ecotricity has a wind portfolio of 87.2 megawatts, the firms head of smart grids, Mark Meyrick, said: “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.”

Meyrick said the company had been watching Next Kraftwerke’s activities in the “flexibility space” for a while.

Speaking about the new platform, Jochen Schwill, CEO and co-founder at Next Kraftwerke, said: “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.”

Last year in October Ecotricity rolled-out the Electric Highway in London, while in December it doubled its EV charging cost as part of a “revamped” offering with its customers eligible for a 50 per cent discount. In July 2018 it will hold an hour-long Q and A session at the Womad Festival on Brexit and refugees with the Green party.