Greentech Lead Team: Falbygdens Energi (FEAB), Sweco, and
Lavastorm Analytics have joined hands to develop simulation technology to help
utilities uncover efficiency gains and economic benefits for smart grids.
The partnership will look at analyzing historical and
real-time energy consumption and production data for wind, solar, and electric
vehicles against the backdrop of different business models.
FEAB claims that the simulations will help utilities
determine the smart grid systems and operating models that are optimal and
economically-viable for their market’s unique energy needs.
The Smart Grid movement has been delayed because the exact
value and benefits of smart grid and renewable energy technologies remain
unclear to utilities and consumers.
“Sweden has unique energy regulations, but the
intelligent systems we are proving can be easily translated to almost any
country or region. By engaging with Lavastorm Analytics and Sweco, we’re
applying new analytic tools and environmental expertise to make sense of real
energy data. The results will be invaluable for FEAB, and for smart grid
initiatives everywhere,” said Lars Ohlsson, CEO, Falbygdens Energi.
Trials by the three companies indicate that the
simulation technology reveals how cost-effective and energy-saving new
technologies and configurations will be.
The aim is to help accelerate adoption of smart grid
technologies and business models, such as dynamic load balancing to reduce peak
usage, leveraging new storage methods to maximize capacity utilization, and
adoption of new pricing methods by power aggregators to develop demand response
capabilities, among others.
“The smart grid has the potential to empower both
producers and consumers of energy to have greater control over the
environmental and economic sustainability of power generation. But utilities
struggle to know which storage and generation infrastructures make the most
sense and consumers demand energy management methods that are intuitive. This
new collaboration is very exciting as we will soon have concrete evidence to
prove what works best,” said Erik Severin, CEO, Sweco Energuide.
The simulation system will combine real-time data from
FEAB’s local energy market consumers, Sweco’s energy technology consultancy
expertise, and the Lavastorm Analytics Platform’s real-time business
analytics power. The partnership has already produced results for one business
case test, showing that a combination of smart meters, real-time data
visualization, dynamic pricing, and load management reduces peak power use by
consumers by 10 percent, and the cost of running the power network for the
utility by five percent.