Skip to main content
Post News December 17, 2020

Press Release: Equigy cracks open flexibility in energy market to speed up green transition

Press Release:

Equigy cracks open flexibility in energy market to speed up green transition.


Energy platform Equigy pulls in new partners, launches groundbreaking projects.

December 17, 2020 – Crowd balancing platform Equigy is off to a flying start. Three of Europe’s leading Transmission System Operators (TSOs) are working with OEM partners (such as electric vehicle makers, energy companies, and other aggregators on a host of new projects to accelerate the energy transition. New agreements were signed recently with a variety of players: German TSO 50Hertz, Swiss energy services provider Alpiq, French green energy company Engie, and Viessmann, a German manufacturer of heating and cooling systems.

“When Equigy kicked off, there was massive interest and enthusiasm from many different stakeholders,” says Equigy’s new CEO René Kerkmeester, who was the driving force behind the crowd balancing platform from the start. “Key developments over the past few months have further underscored the potential. Equigy is a big step forward for the energy transition and everyone can be part of it. It’s great that interest is growing.”

Equigy launched in April as a consortium between TenneT, Terna and Swissgrid, and it recently announced its Management Board and Supervisory Board.

 

Future-proof projects and partners

Equigy has engaged in collaborations with:

50HERZ (TSO)
50Hertz, another large TSO in Germany, has committed to collaborating with TenneT on a project using the Equigy platform. This is for redispatch involving household systems. Small decentralised generators and storage facilities will be integrated into redispatch, allowing consumers to offer flexibility from home devices such as heat pumps and  electric vehicles through aggregators.

ALPIQ (Pilot partner)
Swissgrid successfully tested a Swiss pilot project with Alpiq, a leading Swiss energy services provider and electricity producer. Alpiq offers aggregated flexibility in the market for ancillary services and provides primary control energy. In the project, a 1.2 MW battery was used as a flexible energy resource.

ENGIE (Pilot partner)
In this pilot, Engie is working with Equigy to ensure the supply of flexibility to the electricity system, in the form of aFFR or regulating capacity. The EEMS (27MW) wind farm was connected as a first flexible asset in the pilot. Equigy facilitates the necessary data exchange through blockchain technology.

VIESSMANN (OEM)
In Germany, TenneT is collaborating with new project partner Viessmann on a solution involving domestic heat pumps. Viessmann is the leading provider of climate solutions for all living spaces.

 

Meeting the European Commission

In October, CEOs and senior executives from Swissgrid, Terna, TenneT and Equigy presented the platform to Kadri Simson, the EU’s Commissioner of Energy. At the meeting, participants discussed potential challenges – including legal and regulatory barriers – that need to be overcome to allow for mass-scale adoption of distributed flexibilities.

The commissioner was positive about the platform’s potential and the future role consumers can play in a more decentralised energy market, as well as the steps taken to resolve regulatory challenges.

It’s great to see so many industry players coming together on this platform,” says Kerkmeester. “It shows the time is right, more than ever, for a crowd balancing platform like Equigy. With all these new collaborations and projects, we can leverage our technology to speed up the energy transition together.”

 

Management Board and Supervisory Board

Newly appointed members are:

Supervisory Board:
  • Rainer Mühlberger, Chairman (Swissgrid)
  • Melanie Bunke (TenneT)
  • Luca Marchisio (Terna)
Management Board:
  • René Kerkmeester, CEO (TenneT)
  • Ersilia Aloia, CFO (Terna)
  • Martin van ‘t Verlaat, CTO (TenneT), completes the team elected to scale up the initiative.

 

Access to flexible energy

Equigy’s blockchain-based crowd balancing platform opens the energy market by allowing grid operators to access electricity stored in privately owned devices, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps through aggregators. It can also be coupled with photovoltaic systems (e.g. solar panels) and small-scale hydropower systems.

The Equigy system gives TSOs and DSOs access to the flexible capacity available in distributed devices, with owners benefitting financially by selling their power via the platform. The transactions are managed and validated using blockchain technology. The TSOs can use this flexible power to help keep the grid balanced. Grid balancing is becoming increasingly complex as more renewable energy sources are fed into the system. The volatility of renewables in the electricity system requires TSOs to find innovative and sustainable balancing solutions.

Equigy is an open platform and is looking forward to welcoming new partners across Europe. If you are interested in joining us, or would like more information, please click here.

 

For information:

Rene Kerkmeester, CEO Equigy
rene.kerkmeester@equigy.com

 

About Equigy

Equigy plays a key role in the acceleration of the energy transition and the integration of the energy system. With the European crowd balancing platform, based on blockchain technology, Equigy enables smaller flexibility devices, such as home batteries and electric vehicles, to participate in electricity balancing markets, turning consumers into prosumers. Founded by TenneT, Swissgrid and Terna, three national transmission system operators, Equigy aims to set cross-industry standards throughout Europe, to support a future-proof, reliable and cost-effective power system that is independent of fossil fuel-based flexibility sources.

Most popular articles

TenneT NL

TenneT Netherlands
Utrechtseweg 310
6812 AR Arnhem

E: BSP@tennet.eu
For becoming a BSP and delivering aFRR via the CBP and aFRR information
E: mascha.peper@tennet.eu
General CBP information

TenneT DE

TenneT Germany
Bernecker Strasse 70
95448 Bayreuth

E: mascha.peper@tennet.eu
General CBP information

Website Tennet

Swissgrid

Bleichemattstrasse 31
P.O. Box
5001 Aarau
Switzerland

T: +41 58 580 21 11

E: evangelos.vrettos@swissgrid.ch
For inquiries related to the pilot project(s)
E: stavroula.margelou@swissgrid.ch
For inquiries about the FCR operationalization project
E: marek.zima@swissgrid.ch
For general inquiries

Website Swissgrid

Terna

Terna S.p.A. - Rete Elettrica Nazionale
Roma - Viale Egidio Galbani, 70 - 00156


T: +39 06 8313 8111

E: fabio.dininno@terna.it
T: +39 06 8313 8286
Stakeholders relations

Website Terna

APG

Austrian Power Grid AG
Wagramer Straße 19 (IZD Tower)
1220 Vienna

E: info@stromausgleich.at
For becoming a BSP and delivering aFRR via de CBP

E: martin.cichy@apg.at
For General CBP Information and Questions regarding the project and APG

Website APG

TransnetBW GmbH

Osloer Str. 15-17,
70173 Stuttgart


T: +49 170 844 8442
E: a.jung@transnetbw.de

Website TransnetBW