COVER STORY Annemarie de Jong head of
delivery for European energy company Vattenfall currently works in Germany and explained that the market shows many similarities to the Australian market described by Waterson. “We are seeing an acceleration of the green energy transition alongside the German government’s commitment to meeting net zero by 2045, it has just allocated €800m for this process.” However, she warned that operators need to balance ambition with reality because there were legacy systems and even societal issues that might temper the progress. Like Waterson, de Jong argued that the digital customer experience has become a game changer. “Customers want transparency, control, good experience and personalisation. As such the need and demand for a green digital bundled offering is rising. Digital companies like Octopus are reshaping the landscape with their technology models.”
THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY Neel Gulhar chief product officer for software company Kaluza also spoke at the event. Kaluza develops AI driven software that enables allocation of and redistribution of energy on a grid using data. Gulhar explained that a big issue for the industry faces is that although a wopping $210bn is being spent on software globally, it’s likely that this money isn’t going to be used effectively. “A lot of companies are still using software created for a different age with a different set of problems. For example, the automated back office was set up in the 80s to digitalise paper processes. Similarly, when smart meters were first brought into the market, data storage was expensive but this isn’t the case any more since cloud storage is so cheap. We need to find a better way to spend this money,” he said.
THE FUTURE OF THE GRID The future of the grid, according to Neel, will be the management of
data. He gives the recent shut down of Heathrow airport as an example of an issue that might be resolved by a data-managed grid. “Despite being one of the busiest airports in the world, the substation was closed for almost a day recently because of a power outage.” As he explained, data and AI could solve the issue. “In the near future instead of having to shut down, airports will be linked to all players in an energy system, including customers with electric vehicles or excess energy from solar panels. All parties will be invited to share their power which might be redirected to an airport. There would be a data strategy managing and consolidating all these elements. “Knowing what’s going on with the grid will mean they consumers can earn a few extra bucks,” he said.
For more information visit:
www.kaluza.com and
group.vattenfall.com
Vattenfall IDNO has provided grid connection for Helios Power Ai Solutions project at a solar installation site in Huddersfield, Yorkshire in the UK. The company is partnering with sustainable infrastructure specialists Serconnect Ltd and the project will deliver a new 11 kV point of connection to allow Ai to scale without putting strain on the grid. The project aims to promote the use of
renewable energy by combining Ai and blockchain, which help manage and secure data, to create a system where people are rewarded for using or supporting sustainable energy from windfarms, solar, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) or other sources, also known as token- based ecosystems. Helios Power Ai Solutions are working
The Helios Power Ai Solutions project in Huddersfield Yorkshire
to make Ai more sustainable by providing access to distributed data centres which are fed power from these renewable assets. By doing so they aim to enable Ai to scale up and grow in usage without putting strain on the grid. Stewart Dawson, managing director at Vattenfall IDNO said “This is our first project with Serconnect, and we look forward to building a strong partnership and delivering many more together.”
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