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Bio energy is an ideal fit for every virtual power plant. The power output of a biomass plant is flexible – the plant’s Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit can be switched on and off rather easily. In the meantime, heat and biogas (or solid biomass like wood pellets) can be stored. This structural advantage of bio energy is already playing a pivotal role, as more and more fluctuating energies such as solar and wind power are used to meet our power demand. But this structural advantage is also something very valuable for biomass plant operators. If they are interconnected with other decentralized plants within the framework of a virtual power plant, the flexibility of their plant can be sold on balancing energy markets as ancillary reserve. Furthermore, they can increase their power production when prices on the energy exchange are high – and decrease production in times of low market prices.

Solar energy has one advantage over other renewable energies: Solar cells produce power during the day, when it is needed most, roughly between 9 am and 6 pm. In countries with a high proportion of solar power feed-in, this natural advantage has led to a decrease in power prices on the open market. It’s quite simple: Photovoltaic (PV) power is cheap, once the initial cost of manufacturing and installing the solar modules is paid off. Thus PV will gradually squeeze conventional power suppliers – coal, gas, nuclear – out of the market. But solar energy also has a couple of disadvantages compared to conventional power suppliers. For starters, PV parks are not necessarily located near to big consumers such as industrial parks. In fact, PV parks are located where there is a high probability of continuous and strong solar radiation.

As with solar energy, wind energy needs to further integrate itself into the existing grid and market structures. As a powerful yet not established newcomer, wind energy requires backing either from governments or from smart new technologies and strategies. The later is offered by Next Kraftwerke through smart networking and short term trading of wind power. As a first step, wind farm operators can opt for the integration of their turbines into our virtual power plant (VPP). Our software system then aggregates wind farm data and “adds” data from other sources – the other participants in the VPP such as solar or bio energy, the latest grid data, weather forecasts and current energy exchange prices. Since the central control room of our VPP is able to provide and control energy for use at peak times, we also hit the best possible power prices on the energy exchange.

Like bio energy plants, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units that use biomethane or other natural gases are a very welcome addition to our virtual power plant. Essentially, Next Kraftwerke sells the output of the CHP units in our virtual power plant on two markets. The daily power output is traded on the spot market of the EPEX energy exchange, while the units’ flexibility is sold on balancing energy markets.

Our virtual power plant consists not only of power producers but also of power consumers. Like producers, energy intensive industries such as industrial parks or processing industries have an effect on the grid and sometimes cause imbalances, when their power consumption quickly rises or drops. But this also means that energy intensive industries can have a positive effect on the grid by providing balancing energy: If they are willing to reduce or increase their consumption in times of grid overload (“Demand Response“).