In launching Smart Energy Solutions ECG Erdgas-Consult GmbH (ECG) has designed an innovative solution procedure that provides sustainable support to energy companies wishing to integrate distributed generation facilities into their portfolios.
With the share of renewable generation growing and efficiency regulations tightening the generation landscape is becoming more and more decentralised. This structural change poses great challenges for energy companies, who need to meet a wide range of technical and commercial requirements in order to successfully integrate distributed generation facilities into their generation portfolios.
"By creating Smart Energy Solutions ECG has established a sustainable solution which provides reliable and secure support to energy companies implementing new requirements. Different configuration levels building on a variety of modules and the corresponding software products provide assistance through all steps of the integration procedure and help energy companies plan, manage, monitor and control their generation facilities. Thanks to this approach distributed generation plants can be successively integrated into the (company) portfolio while allowing companies to unlock new value potential," says Martin Loßner, Software Consultant Energy Markets at ECG.
Each integration process begins by planning the facility's construction in detail. ECG's costing software is capable of including a large number of parameters and can be used to analyse the plant's profitability. It further allows the user to run interactive risk and sensitivity analyses in order to estimate the investment project's robustness.
For a user-friendly and central administration of individual plant master and transaction data ECG has developed a Plant Data Manager which efficiently manages the generation plant portfolio's technical and commercial data. At the same time it operates as a data hub, importing data and exporting them to other systems.
Using this information ECG's Monitoring Cockpit shows the current status and metering data for individual plants, groups of plants and the entire plant portfolio. The Cockpit uses individual plant data, market information and projections to generate customerspecific information and translates them into easy-tounderstand and transparent charts displayed in graphical applications (widgets).
Distributed generation facilities that are equipped with a communication and control unit can be connected to the central Control Cockpit operating a virtual power station. The Cockpit generates cost-optimised production schedules and corresponding marketing schemes by energetically optimising the input from individual plant data as well as generation, consumption and market projections. The controllability of individual facilities does not only provide a convenient opportunity for energy companies to access new marketing channels but also to coordinate load shifts between individual plants without endangering processes, and to perform tasks aimed at stabilising the network.
With the share of renewable generation growing and efficiency regulations tightening the generation landscape is becoming more and more decentralised. This structural change poses great challenges for energy companies, who need to meet a wide range of technical and commercial requirements in order to successfully integrate distributed generation facilities into their generation portfolios.
"By creating Smart Energy Solutions ECG has established a sustainable solution which provides reliable and secure support to energy companies implementing new requirements. Different configuration levels building on a variety of modules and the corresponding software products provide assistance through all steps of the integration procedure and help energy companies plan, manage, monitor and control their generation facilities. Thanks to this approach distributed generation plants can be successively integrated into the (company) portfolio while allowing companies to unlock new value potential," says Martin Loßner, Software Consultant Energy Markets at ECG.
Each integration process begins by planning the facility's construction in detail. ECG's costing software is capable of including a large number of parameters and can be used to analyse the plant's profitability. It further allows the user to run interactive risk and sensitivity analyses in order to estimate the investment project's robustness.
For a user-friendly and central administration of individual plant master and transaction data ECG has developed a Plant Data Manager which efficiently manages the generation plant portfolio's technical and commercial data. At the same time it operates as a data hub, importing data and exporting them to other systems.
Using this information ECG's Monitoring Cockpit shows the current status and metering data for individual plants, groups of plants and the entire plant portfolio. The Cockpit uses individual plant data, market information and projections to generate customerspecific information and translates them into easy-tounderstand and transparent charts displayed in graphical applications (widgets).
Distributed generation facilities that are equipped with a communication and control unit can be connected to the central Control Cockpit operating a virtual power station. The Cockpit generates cost-optimised production schedules and corresponding marketing schemes by energetically optimising the input from individual plant data as well as generation, consumption and market projections. The controllability of individual facilities does not only provide a convenient opportunity for energy companies to access new marketing channels but also to coordinate load shifts between individual plants without endangering processes, and to perform tasks aimed at stabilising the network.
