Companies to jointly launch additional market products following delivery of uninterrupted aFRR capacity for last six months
Generac Grid Services, a subsidiary of Generac Power Systems (NYSE: GNRC), a leading designer and manufacturer of energy technology solutions and other power products, and German utility RWE today announced an expanded collaboration after Generac Grid Services delivered an automatic, fast-power control virtual power plant (VPP) solution to an energy market within Germany for the past six months. The success sets the stage for the two companies to expand market operations, with a plan to launch two more market products this year.
Generac Grid Services has facilitated uninterrupted automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve (aFRR) capacity, supporting the balance of power within the Amprion Transmission System Operator (TSO) Control Area, since December 2021. The solution is enabled by Generac Grid Services’ Concerto™ distributed energy resource control platform, increasing efficiency and performance by removing manual operations from this real-time market service. The achievement demonstrates the value the Concerto platform can unlock in efforts to create a sustainable and reliable power grid.
RWE’s D-Central program enables commercial and industrial customers to integrate their distributed energy resources (DERs) into RWE’s virtual power plant, and thereby benefit from participating in energy markets. Leveraging Concerto, RWE captures additional revenue by taking full advantage of available DER flexibility. When an aFRR market bid is accepted, RWE delivers its capacity automatically using Concerto’s closed-loop, real-time, transactive optimization engine. Concerto’s unique technology empowers RWE to dispatch the optimal combination of devices in its fleet of distributed assets. RWE thus can maximize the value of its available flexible capacity beyond simply meeting awarded energy capacity requirements.
“Concerto has performed flawlessly in providing 24/7 aFRR market operations,” said Patrick Luig, product owner for the D-Central program for RWE. “Having proven the high value of Concerto in providing fast-responding flexible and sustainable capacity to the German grid, RWE is excited to grow our collaboration with Generac Grid Services.”
Along with the aFRR solution, RWE now leverages Concerto to bid into the German interruptible load market. This solution enables RWE to stack additional value from its fleet of distributed energy resources.
“Generac Grid Services is proud to support RWE in providing grid-balancing solutions that support a reliable grid as more intermittent renewables connect to the system,” said Michael Ruth, VP of Product at Generac Grid Services. “Concerto’s successful, round-the-clock performance demonstrates distributed energy resources’ viability to support real-time grid needs when paired with our industry-leading control platform.”
About Generac Grid Services
Generac Grid Services is a subsidiary of Generac Power Systems (NYSE: GNRC), a leading designer and manufacturer of energy technology solutions and other power products. Generac Grid Services is working to change the way the world generates and uses electricity. From turnkey solar + storage solutions, to backup generators, additional distributed energy resources and virtual power plant software, Generac Grid Services is helping to accelerate the world’s transition to a cleaner, more reliable power grid. Via the company’s energy-balancing platform, power generation and storage products that might otherwise sit idle are now able to be dispatched and orchestrated as part of a distributed energy solution, thereby generating value for the home or business owner, while also delivering value to the energy grid.
About RWE
RWE is leading the way to a green energy world. With an extensive investment and growth strategy, the company will expand its powerful, green generation capacity to 50 gigawatts internationally by 2030. RWE is investing €50 billion gross for this purpose in this decade. The portfolio is based on offshore and onshore wind, solar, hydrogen, batteries, biomass and gas. RWE Supply & Trading provides tailored energy solutions for large customers. RWE has locations in the attractive markets of Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. The company is responsibly phasing out nuclear energy and coal. Government mandated phaseout roadmaps have been defined for both of these energy sources. RWE employs around 19,000 people worldwide and has a clear target: to get to net zero by 2040. On its way there, the company has set itself ambitious targets for all activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions. The Science Based Targets initiative has confirmed that these emission reduction targets are in line with the Paris Agreement. Very much in the spirit of the company’s purpose: Our energy for a sustainable life.