GO-e: Trying out flex services in practice
Coordinated use of flex services
The GO-e (Gebouwde Omgeving Elektrificatie – Electrification of the Built Environment) consortium has studied the coordinated use of flexibility services for energy supply in the Netherlands. The consortium was made up of Technolution Spark and Phase to Phase, as well as other partners including the grid operators Alliander, Enexis, and Stedin. Within GO-e, Technolution and Phase to Phase implemented flexibility services for end users in practice on a large scale for the first time.
GO-e sought answers to the many questions with regard to flexibility by using ‘Living Labs’ (existing residential areas and a distribution center). Questions such as: can the use of flex services really alleviate grid load? Are the results such that it can obviate grid reinforcement? What role can flex services play in energy supply in the future? And how can we technically realize the flexibilization of electricity use?
Flexibilization as an alternative to reinforcement of power grids?
More flexible use of electricity is often mentioned as an alternative to grid reinforcement. Variations in the time or amount of use, generation or feed-in of electricity make it possible to reduce grid load during peak moments. Flex services can be used by companies for example to make the stored energy of their electric vehicle or forklift fleet available or to adjust the use cycle of their heat pump the grid load. Energy suppliers and grid operators can thus make better use of decentralized sources of energy and reduce the peak load of medium- and low-voltage networks.
Technolution Spark: digitization for reliable data
Within GO-e, Technolution Spark focused mainly on obtaining reliable data for the grid operators. Using the Flexcore platform, we apply edge computing to the electricity infrastructure, particularly in medium-voltage stations. This solution gives grid operators a whole range of options to collect different kinds of data in an automated way. For example on network status, network congestion, and flexibility. In addition, this type of real-life data is an optimal basis for the algorithms of Phase to Phase’s applications.
Together with our consortium partners, we moreover designed a common architecture for an open Home Energy Management System (HEMS). This architecture facilitates accessible and reliable communication with devices in individual households for large-scale deployment of flexibility services. The consumer decides how and when devices respond to requests from service providers, energy suppliers, or the grid operator.
Phase to Phase: stochastic calculations on the grid to create reliable profiles
Phase to Phase’s applications offer grid operators indispensable support in designing and performing calculations on their networks. Gaia LV Network Design does this for example for low-voltage networks. The stochastic modeling of the applications makes it possible to perform scalable network calculations. Simulated data and real-world data, for instance the data from Flexcore or (anonymized) user profiles, are transformed into effective probable load profiles for the predicted load per connection per moment.
The results of these network calculations are crucial in realizing the desired flexibility in residential areas: greater insight into and predictability of congestion and more accurate estimates of the potency of various proposed solutions.
Flexible energy use in practice
The success of flexibilization of energy consumption depends of course on the number of participating end users and the impact that coordinated use can have. The end user – both private and corporate energy consumers – stands at the heart of the enterprise. This is why the GO-e consortium tested the technology in ‘living labs’, in three residential areas in Houten, Heeten, and Loenen (Veluwe). A fourth lab was a distribution center of the Albert Heijn supermarket chain, where the consortium tested flexibility provided by electric trucks.
