Hakan P. Johansson ABB Enterprise Software: "...Every discussion about virtual power plants or energy cooperatives should start with an exchange of ways how to optimize the existing energy grid. One of the necessity for future development of the grid is certainly its digitalization, and the ability to exchange information between every participant of the grid."
"Update on the current legislature regarding Renewable Energy Sources is necessary, to enable new investments and the development of the renewable energy industry" - Dr Tomasz Kowalak.
On 29th September 2016, an international Seminar Virtual Power Plants and Renewable Energy Cooperatives in Poland was held in Warsaw, Poland. The General Partner of the event was ABB Enterprise Software, KiC InnoEnergy and ENEA Trading as Strategic Partners, WAGO ELWAG and PSI Polska as Technological Experts and Exhibitors. The Seminar received Honorary Patronage from: The Parliamentary Commission on Coal Mining and Energy, Polish Parliament, SEDC, PIIT, SIT, SEO, KIER, IŁ PIB, PIGEOR, UPEBI, NOT, IEO.
The main objective of the event was to gather experts and representatives of the energy sector – including renewable energy – and allow them to exchange experience and knowledge in reference to RES investments, technological discoveries and innovative solutions.
It seems that, at least in the near future, conventional, non-renewable sources of energy (coal, petroleum, gas) will be the predominant source of energy in Poland. However, nothing stands in the way of utilizing renewable energy sources as a perfect supplement of that system. Recently, new forms of utilizing the RES have emerged on the Polish market, like Renewable Energy Cooperatives, which in relation to technologies like Virtual Power Plants, may greatly increase stability, reliability and efficiency of renewable energy generation. In order to be competitive on the market, renewable energy companies need to monitor their production and analyse market demand, all in the effort to create an effective and profitable sale strategy.
VPP is a system that integrates different types of renewable power sources (wind-turbines, hydro, photovoltaic etc.), IT infrastructure and management platform – all controlled and monitored by a central authority in the effort to create a reliable, stable and efficient power supply. Power supply which can be used either to fulfil energy demand of a single industrial installation or be integrated in the energy grid, increasing its energy effectiveness.
As stated by the Chairman of Parliamentary Commission on Coal Mining and Energy, MP Ireneusz Zyska, the Seminar itself could be regarded as one of the elements of a national discussion in Poland about the necessary development of renewable energy industry, and its active participation in the national energy system. The global energy system is undergoing transformation, decentralization of energy production and diversification of its sources is becoming more common and Polish energy market must also find the compromise between conventional, more reliable energy sources, and the renewable energy that offers technological advancement and clean environment.
Dr. Didier Gambier, Head of European Commission's Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) was our first Speaker. EASME is responsible for energy projects within the EU, environment protection programs, and the development of new energy sources. According to Dr. Gambier each transformation of an important branch of European industry, like energy sector, needs undoubtedly time. Currently the main goal of the European policy is the security and reliability of energy delivery, and the reduction of market dependency on non-renewable sources of energy.
EU's objective is 30% reduction of CO2 emission and the 27% increase of renewable energy by 2030, coupled with the improvement of European systems effectiveness and competitiveness. Initiatives like Renewable Energy Cooperatives can be used to increase those parameters in the near future.
Our next Speaker was Dr. Tomasz Kowalak, who discussed the concept of energy cooperation as a potential solution for a number of issues troubling Polish energy grid. Dr. Kowalak is an expert on energy regulation, and energy policies for the Polish Regulatory Agency. As described by him, renewable energy cooperatives can be unquestionably a solution and hope for diversification and decentralization, as well as, a tool that could change the energy mix for the benefit of the energy industry in Poland. However, even though the potential for improvement is there, certain challenges and difficulties exist that the government and the regulator must recognize and correct immediately. Polish energy market is in the dire need of new renewable energy investments.
Another esteemed Guest Speaker was Dr. Heli Antila, Chief Technology Officer in FORTUM, company that needs no introduction to the energy sector representatives. In her presentation Ms. Antila, focused predominantly on the role of a consumer in the future energy systems, how that role must change for the benefit of all interested parties.
Stable, reliable and efficient energy distribution and production is a necessity if we, as the continent and unified European market, want to play a significant part in the global economy. In order to build efficient energy systems, energy companies and energy distributors require a more active consumer - an active participant in the welfare of the grid, and not just a passive recipient. In order to transform that vision into reality, consumers must have access to systems that will allow them to manage their energy demand and control their energy consumption.
One of the latest FORTUM's projects was a VPP pilot project regarding production and distribution of heat to a number of households in Finland. Together with 100 private households, and national transmission operator FINGRID, the company managed and successfully completed a VPP project by creating a smart multi-layer system of heat production and distribution, depending on individual parameters from each of project's participants, their demand and consumption.
One of the most interesting presentation according to the majority of Seminar attendees, was the presentation delivered by Mr. Hakan P. Johansson, Senior Executive, Sales, Smart Grid & Consulting , from ABB Enterprise Software. As stated by Mr. Johansson: "in order to implement smart grid or successfully manage virtual power plant projects, the key element is not technology, technology is the one thing we have in abundance. Most crucial is the business model, economic calculation. 80-90% of technology that we need to build smart grid or virtual power plants is already readily available on the market."
Hakan had been engaged in the ABB's global smart grid strategy program for over 8 years. According to him, the main challenge in creating smart infrastructure is everything but the technology. Political and commercial issues are the hardest to resolve, in comparison, the technical side of the project is always the easiest.
Unfortunately, it is a global trend that changes in any policy, including the energy industry, are really hard to implement. There are, however, positive examples of how different governments react to new solutions and ideas.
Norway is the second biggest market for energy vehicles in the world, after the United States. What is curious, Norway has an immense supply of petroleum. The question is, why Norway is investing in electro-mobility. Sometimes the will to act, political and social incentive can be a powerful motivator.
Mr. Hakan P. Johansson also presented how new, more advanced and reliable technology may secure the return on an investment: "avoiding one major outage may be exactly what makes an investment worthwhile".
Mr. Rafal Domaszewski, Board Member of ENEA Trading, explained his companies involvement in the virtual power plant technology and pilot-projects regarding the wholesale energy market in Poland. In the conclusion of his presentation describing the VPP project that they managed, Mr. Domaszewski explained that the main benefit of having Virtual Power Plant as a central control unit for any number of energy resources is that it offers a unique possibility of effective balancing and optimization of the system.
Another company that agreed to accept our invitation and present their experience and observation regarding Virtual Power Plants management was E.ON. Mr. Bartholomaus Wasowicz, Head of Business Development Virtual Power Plant & Flexibility Business Unit at E.ON Connecting Energies GmbH, presented three main pillars of E.ON activities globally: distribution network, renewable energy, new solutions and products for the consumers.
VPP projects run by E.ON throughout the years have proven that it is the most reliable technology when trying to control and manage unstable sources of energy. Main responsibility of a well-developed Virtual Power Plant system is balancing demand and consumption of energy, optimization of operational and production processes, proper storage of energy.
An enlightening and very interesting perspective on RES cooperatives was presented by Dr. Rudi Rienzner, Director of Suditiroler Energieverband SEV, an organization incorporating numerous RES-Coop initiatives and installations in the Southern Tyrol, one of the most industrialized regions in Italy. This region has thousands of RES cooperatives successfully providing energy to the grid, making Southern Tyrol virtually self-sufficient energetically. They are currently planning on increasing the participation of renewable energy in the mix by 75% in 2020, and by 90% in 2050.
Presently, the region is capable of generating 6.5 TWh of energy every year, while maintaining their demand for energy on the level of 3 TWh. It is their vast network of renewable energy cooperatives that enabled them to have a diverse and reliable energy grid, delivering energy to every household, small, medium and large-scale business ventures.
ELSTA Electronics and KIC InnoEnergy were Strategic Partners of the Seminar Virtual Power Plants and Renewable Energy Cooperatives in Poland and both companies had worked together developing a new product for the energy markets - ProInterface project. The objective of the project was to create a system that would operate on the connection between the energy resources and the energy grid, reducing drastically any system loss of energy during the distribution process, while improving the quality of energy parameters. As described by Mr. Grzegorz Kucia, Product Manager in ELSTA Elektronics, main goal was to reduce the loss of energy in the grid and at the same time improve the quality of the energy delivered to end-consumers.
Our final presentation was NEXT Kraftwerke/Elektrownie NEXT, and Mr. Artur Łagodziński, Business Development Manager. In Mr. Łagodziński very interesting presentation we were shown the first stages of implementation of VPP solutions and technology in the Polish market, as a way of solving some of the problems that trouble Polish energy grid.
NEXT Kraftwerke is operating on German, Belgian, Austrian, Dutch, French and now Polish markets, managing energy of 9 TWh. Their Virtual Power Plants comprise of biogas and wind installations, solar farms, hydro-plants, CHP.
