Germany’s 1KOMMA5° to provide frequency control power in Sweden
Barbara Wittenberg, chief technology officer at 1KOMMA5°. Image courtesy 1KOMMA5°.
German energy company 1KOMMA5° has received approval to provide frequency control power (FCR-D) in Sweden.
With the approval the company will be able to use their Heartbeat AI tech, which they say is able to unlock flexibility and stabilise the electricity network in real time, to provide grid stabilisation services.
Commenting in a release was Philipp Schröder, CEO and co-founder of 1KOMMA5°: “Nobody can control when the wind blows or the sun shines, or when energy is needed. The provision of frequency control power is a central mechanism for ensuring grid stability in such an increasingly decentralized energy system.
“With the approval, we are no longer just optimising our own consumption of solar power, trading electricity on the day-ahead and, more recently, intraday market, but are now also moving into the fourth dimension, that of grid services, with Heartbeat AI.”
The European power grid operates at a target frequency of 50Hz. Any deviation from this – up or down – signals an imbalance between power generation and consumption.
The provision of frequency control power can intervene in the case of generation and consumption imbalances on the grid by minimising fluctuations and avoiding disruptions.
As a rule, says the company in a release, TSOs rely on reserve capacities that can dynamically feed energy into or remove energy from the grid, historically primarily from large power plants.
They add that the regulatory hurdles for smaller, decentralised systems in pools are high, which often leads to difficulties in approval, and their composition varies from country to country. However, they must guarantee the shortest possible response times and comply with strict specifications.
Have you read:
German smart meters company Solandeo acquired in rollout drive
Integrating flexibility from the ground up
Explained Barbara Wittenberg, chief technology officer at 1KOMMA5°: “With our highly automated and fast-responding pool of battery storage and other flexible, decentralised resources, we can create double added value: On the one hand, the grid becomes more responsive, efficient and stable – an important step in the transition to sustainable energy supply and the complete replacement of fossil power plants. On the other hand, we offer our customers additional revenue through optimisation via Heartbeat AI.”
Sascha Schnorbach, VP Development Heartbeat at 1KOMMA5° added: “Heartbeat AI can react to grid disruptions within 3 seconds and thus supports the grid in real time. Similar to intraday trading, the provision of frequency control power can simply be installed as a software update in the future.”
With the approval in Sweden, the company says they have reached an important milestone in grid stabilisation and is preparing for approval in other European markets.
1KOMMA5° has to date installed over 300,000 controllable energy systems such as solar systems, power storage units, heat pumps and wall boxes for customers worldwide.
Heartbeat AI is the technological core of the company, which was launched in 2022 and became a unicorn in mid-2023 after reaching €1 billion market valuation ($1.1 billion at the time).
Their AI currently optimises the interaction of 40,000 decentralised energy systems worldwide.
