The number of requests from large business customers asking to be connected to the electricity grid or be given access to increased capacity is growing. At certain points in the electricity grid, capacity is scarce and the grid cannot always be upgraded quickly enough to meet this extra demand, which means that a transmission limit must be imposed on customers.
The capacity on the grid is not only becoming scarcer due to the higher demand for electricity, there is also the ever-increasing number of customers who generate their own energy, through large-scale solar generation for example. Given that, in the Netherlands, the sun generally shines everywhere at the same time, this electricity also enters the grid all at once. This, too, can be more than the grid’s capacity can handle.
If the extra supply of solar energy could be balanced locally with the demand, the grid could handle both. That is why network operators in the Netherlands are looking for ways to shift large business consumers’ demand for electricity to, or increase it during, the hours when the sun shines the most.
Specifically, they are looking for solutions that can be implemented for large business consumers behind the meter (i.e. on the user’s side of the connection point) to increase the demand for electricity when there is an excess supply of solar energy. A prerequisite is that the consumer and generator must be connected to the same medium-voltage grid. The distance within the medium-voltage grid generally varies between 0 and 10 kilometres. Customisation will ultimately have to determine whether the generator and consumer concerned can be considered to be in the same section of the grid so that the solution can be applied.
In terms of the target group, this mainly concerns commercial greenhouses, data centres, rural farms, industrial plants and large buildings. The solution can help currently connected parties (i.e. consumers and generators of electricity) in congested areas as well as newly connected parties who want to start up operations and who have been promised limited transmission capacity, but not the full capacity they require.
About us
Alliander is a group comprising various operating companies. As one of these operating companies, network operator Liander is responsible for the gas and electricity grid for a large part of the Netherlands and manages the energy distribution across all grids, day in day out. Liander’s professionals keep the lights on and the heat going at around 3 million homes and businesses in the Netherlands.
What we are looking for
For this challenge, we are focusing on the problems caused by the large amounts of solar energy being generated. Because electricity generation by solar panels largely takes place at the same time and also in places where there has previously only been limited demand for electricity, there is a shortage of transmission capacity. Given that solar energy is difficult to control, we are looking for ways to shift the demand for electricity to, or increase it during, the hours when the sun shines the most. This way local balancing of supply and demand can be ensured.
We want to facilitate the development of solutions that stimulate the electricity consumer to consume more electricity when the sun is shining. This prevents us having to impose transmission limits and/or having to expand/upgrade the grid. A solution without a financial component is preferred. However, if a financial component is necessary to encourage large business consumers to consume more electricity when the sun is shining, a solution with the lowest possible cost contribution by the network operator is preferred.
Capacity available in area's 10-12-2020
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As a network operator, Liander is legally bound to keep to its core tasks and therefore may not provide additional services to large connected parties that could offer a solution to this challenge. For this reason, we are seeking parties that have a satisfactory solution that large business consumers of electricity can purchase directly. This requires a strong business case. This requires solutions that:
We are looking for demand response solutions to increase electricity demand for one or more customer segments during sunshine hours. The customer segments where we believe the greatest opportunities for a solution lie are:
You can read about the challenge posed by each of these segments here below
If you think you have the solution (or a part of the solution) for this challenge, we’d love to hear your pitch!
An analogy:
To get a better picture of the challenge, you could imagine the situation as a traffic congestion problem, with the electricity grid as a motorway and the demanded/supplied electricity as cars. In recent years, an increasing amount of traffic has been using this motorway, with significant peaks at certain times, for example when the sun is shining, while at the same time the cars have no place to go at those times so they stay on the motorway. This congestion is not only a major problem for motorway operator Liander, but also for businesses and private consumers. A large traffic jam can lead to overloading the motorway and, consequently, a section being shut down. To keep this from happening, Liander is forced to allow only a limited number of cars onto the motorway. Since the motorway is part of the critical infrastructure of the whole of the Netherlands, this problem has social and economic consequences. This is undesirable.
Solar panels have a high degree of simultaneity (everything happening simultaneously). This is because the sun is shining everywhere at the same time, and at that moment all the PV panels are feeding the energy generated into the electricity grid all at once. Because of this simultaneous feed-in to the grid, the grid becomes congested. Just like when, in our analogy, on sunny days the motorway becomes overcrowded because too few cars are leaving the motorway, here the congestion occurs because too little energy is being consumed. What can our large business customers do during ‘rush-hour traffic’ (caused by solar energy) to consume more electricity and this way ease traffic congestion?
We challenge you to make the best use of your fresh perspective, brainpower and expertise!
A good solution to this challenge will meet a number of criteria:
The knowledge that Alliander provides and develops in relation to this challenge will become open source; we are therefore unable to collaborate on a proprietary IP solution. The open source IP can of course be used in products and services you develop.
We are more than willing to facilitate you in developing a satisfactory solution and business case, one which makes it interesting both for you to bring the solution to the market and for large business consumers to procure and implement the solution.
You are free to choose the format in which you submit your pitch (presentation, slide deck, document), but you must also upload it as a PDF file (portrait or landscape A4, maximum 30MB). Video clips, website mock-ups, etc. may be included as links.
Pitches in English are allowed.
Robert Kleiburg 08-01-2021reageer
Is het relevant of de gekozen oplossing in een congestiegebied staat of net er buiten?
Alliander 11-01-2021reageer
Ja, dit is relevant. De oplossing moet binnen het congestiegebied vallen. Indien de oplossing erbuiten valt, willen we hier wel naar kijken, maar zien we weinig handvatten indien er geen congestie is of verwacht wordt.
mohammed mohseni 13-01-2021reageer
Is het mogelijk om het vraagstuk middels telefonisch gesprek te bespreken? Wie kunnen we hiervoor benaderen?
Alliander 15-01-2021reageer
In principe niet. We raden je aan je vraag te stellen op de informatiebijeenkomst van maandag 1 februari!
Wij hebben aangegeven nog terug te komen op de extra informatie omtrent het GOPACS systeem.
Sinds 1 februari j.l. staat de nieuwe website van GOPACS online, waar een stuk meer informatie over GOPACS beschikbaar is t.o.v. de vorige versie. Daarnaast stellen we een opname van een webinar beschikbaar waar wordt ingegaan op de ins & outs van GOPACS. Hierbij de link naar de uitzending.
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Gezocht: oplossing of tool die retailers helpt met de eerste stap van het innoveren en verbeteren van hun bedrijf en customer journey