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Description
During moments of high peaks in energy consumption or if any renewable energy source experiences an accidental decrease (such as wind and solar irradiance) the power system needs to rapidly supply more energy. To cover this quick rise in demand there are two options: either increase electricity production immediately or reduce or shift consumption. During this downtime the price for available energy (balance energy) is remarkably high due to a lack of available supply on the market. To tackle this problem, FutuGrid VPP shall be developed, which is a complex system that allows power consumption to quickly decrease in the electrical grid for a short period of time. Solution shall enable to temporarily decrease power consumption during moments of high demand and provide the time needed to bring alternative power sources (gas and hydro power plants) on line.
The main objective of the project is to develop Futugrid VPP, including Target User Module and a Central Control Unit, on both the hardware and software, also to carry out a pilot project to test systems working together in real life and to develop a supply chain for serial production and delivery. Next stage is full commercialisation in the following markets: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Scandinavia. The third round of expansion to Europe would arise from the additional work package. The project is initiated by Estonian SME Futugrid Technologies OÜ.
Summary of project results
Consumption management (Demand Response) has mainly been an issue for the industry and large consumers, but now, consumption management has also become a priority for the home users. Several trends have materialised in a significantly shorter period of time. For example, a volatile stock exchange price has been realised, including large jumps of 4,000 €/kwh in Estonia. On the other hand, the realisation of these trends means that market needs the solution that would help to optimise the consumption in order to save money. As new categories are emerging, the most valuable components of the power grid have become controlled capacities.
Futugrid''s solution allows optimising the operation of inertial electrical equipment based on predefined external parameters. Controlling consumption means that inertial devices can be scheduled to operate at lower cost hours. The system allows to maximise the self-consumption of the solar power plant and the optimal use of the storage devices. It is also possible to combine different energy sources and storage technologies.
Futugrid is a cloud-based platform that transforms households, apartment unions, and small businesses into active participants in the energy market by aggregating their demand response, solar plants, and storage devices. Futugrid optimises their electricity production and consumption, and aggregates flexible assets into a unified system to help balance the national power grid. Green ICT project consisted of a hardware and software developments. A charger device ready for serial production and scaling was developed, which works in the plug''n''play method without additional configuration. This was combined with the software solution, which was thoroughly developed considering the sector-specific requirements and market needs. The solution has undergone a CE certification test, which is documented with a test report. This creates a legal basis for the sale and distribution of products.
As a result of the project, Futugrid''s cloud-based platform was created, which optimises electricity consumption and network frequency balancing. It''s a cloud application based on machine learning, which is a fully automated real-time operating system and allows connected devices to be instantly monitored and integrated into any European power grid.