1KOMMA5° announces 500MW virtual power plant capacity milestone
Philipp Schröder, CEO at 1KOMMA5°. Image courtesy 1KOMMA5°.
German energy company 1KOMMA5° has announced control over 500MW of flexibility capacity through their virtual power plant (VPP), which they claim makes it Europe’s largest VPP for residential households.
The milestone comes three years after the market launch of the company’s Heartbeat AI, its core energy management software technology, which currently optimises more than 50,000 systems.
According to the company in a release, with the 500MW capacity, Heartbeat AI could cover the base load for more than one million buildings. According to calculations, they add, the connected decentralised energy systems in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands are saving households 24,000 tons of CO2 and €36.6 million ($41.5 million) in electricity costs.
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Commenting in a release was Philipp Schröder, CEO and co-founder of 1KOMMA5°: “Germany is currently giving away cheap and clean electricity abroad.
“We can solve this problem and ensure that this electricity is available to people here. At the same time, we can reduce the expansion of fossil reserve power plants to a maximum of 5GW instead of 20GW and help to ensure that the volatile production of wind and solar power is no longer curtailed.”
1KOMMA5° claims that in Germany and Europe, large amounts of electricity are being lost due to curtailment, while prices on the electricity exchanges are falling into the negative.
Said Jannik Schall, the company’s co-founder and CPO: “The problem is not that there is too much renewable energy, but a rigid grid without smart meters and without enough storage capacity.
“Instead of subsidising the old and analogue energy system with billions, politicians should continue to promote full flexibility and the smart meter rollout and put large-scale and home storage systems on an equal footing regarding grid charges.”
Said Barbara Wittenberg, CTO of 1KOMMA5°: “Heartbeat AI makes fully automated decisions about our customers’ electricity consumption 4.8 million times a day. Our AI connects and controls the systems, and connected households benefit from cheap and clean electricity.
“On the one hand, the grid becomes more stable – an important step in the transition to a sustainable energy supply and the complete replacement of fossil energy sources. On the other hand, we offer additional income through optimisation via Heartbeat AI – and reduce the electricity price to up to 7ct/kWh. The more systems are connected and optimized, the better the result.”
By 2030, the Hamburg-based company aims to provide almost 20GW of power; to achieve this, 1KOMMA5° is also planning to further open up Heartbeat AI to the than 16 million private homes in Germany.
