Battery Storage
Turn your battery into a source of income
Battery accumulators are taking on important tasks in industry and trade: For example, they replace internal combustion engines as a drive source or absorb peak loads in order to reduce electricity procurement costs. But with the help of batteries you can not only save, but also earn money: By providing control energy for the power grid, you can generate additional income - without significant effort or investment costs.
Reserve Power from Batteries
Your battery can help stabilize the power grid
Fluctuations in the electricity grid are increasing due to the variable feed-in of renewable energy sources such as wind and sun. In order to keep the network stable despite these conditions, the network operators need capacities available at short notice, the so-called balancing power. Through our virtual power plant, your battery storage can offer this standard output if it has at least 150 kW. Just the part of your storage that you have reserved for your FCR delivery is affected during the provision period – the primary functions of your battery will not be affected.
Smart secondary use: By giving your battery storage an additional purpose, it supports the energy transition and generates attractive revenues.
Service-oriented: We take care of the connection of your battery storage to the virtual power plant and carry out the test procedure for the balancing energy market, the prequalification, for you.
Great know-how: As a long-standing provider of balancing energy in various countries in Europe, we trade the reserve capacities of your battery as primary reserve power (FCR/R1), a particularly lucrative form of balancing energy.
No functional impairment: Together with you, we determine which time windows are suitable for the provision of control power. The primary function of your battery storage (e.g. peak shaving) always takes precedence, of course.
My Power Plant
Always up to date via app and PC
My Power Plant is our customer portal that you can use on your PC or via app on your smartphone. In the customer portal, you can view and manage the status of your battery, edit data, and download invoices.
Calls: You can be notified about control energy calls of your battery storage.
Fault notification: In the event of faults, you can also receive notifications via the app on request.
Maintenance times: You can conveniently register maintenance and repair times via the portal.
FAQ Batteries
Frequently asked questions
In these FAQs, we answer the most common questions about battery storage with and without primary use in the Next Kraftwerke Virtual Power Plant. Do you have any further questions? Then please contact us personally and we will be happy to advise you.
By participating in the Next Kraftwerke Virtual Power Plant, you gain easy and cost-effective access to the balancing energy market. This allows you to profitably use the flexibility potential of your battery. Next Kraftwerke takes care of the technical and regulatory aspects of participating in the balancing energy market for you. Does your battery serve another primary purpose? That's no problem either: You can concentrate fully on your core business and generate additional profits. The primary use of your battery, for example for peak shaving or mobility, is not affected by participation in the balancing energy market.
Your battery storage can become part of the Next Pool Virtual Power Plant if it has at least 400 kW and about one hour of storage capacity. Your battery also needs a remote control unit, such as the Next Box, and must prequalify for the balancing energy market. Next Kraftwerke will provide the remote control unit and prequalify your battery for you.
Batteries can provide, besides aFRR, the most profitable form of control energy, primary control reserve (FCR/R1). This is the shortest-term form of control reserve and is called up as soon as the grid frequency deviates from the normal value, both positively and negatively.
Next Box: With the Next Box we establish the connection of your battery storage to the virtual power plant: Your battery communicates with our control system via a secure mobile phone connection. Control system: The data of all plants bundled in the Virtual Power Plant flow together in the control system. This way we know exactly how much control energy we can offer. Our control energy bids subject to a surcharge must always be available in the Next Pool during the reservation period.
Primary reserve capacity (FCR) must be available within 30 seconds, and delivery must continue uninterrupted for at least 15 minutes. Checks are conducted as part of prequalification tests to identify how much positive and negative capacity can be produced in this time frame. This ‘capacity range’ can be sold on the control reserve markets after a bidding process conducted in advance. Unlike the tertiary or secondary reserve, primary reserve is not activated by a command from the TSO. Instead, it is triggered by grid frequency. This is measured directly on the biogas asset; depending on the deviation, the asset immediately delivers positive or negative primary reserve. Due to the constant availability, there is no difference between the capacity price and the energy price - compensation is automatically set at the capacity price. The Belgian TSO Elia procures four different FCR products: two symmetrical and two assymetrical. The symmetrical products are FCR 100 mHZ and FCR 200 mHZ, respectively responding in a frequency deviation band of +- 100 mHz and +- 200 mHz around 50 Hz. The assymetrical products require an activation in only one direction, respectively upwards or downwards for FCR upward and FCR downward. The different products are shown in the figure above.
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We make more of your battery
As one of Europe's largest virtual power plants, we already connect more than 5000 decentralized power generators and consumers. This alliance enables us to enable smaller units such as wind, solar and biogas plants as well as battery storage facilities to participate in lucrative electricity markets. Via our own trading floor, we trade on various European power exchanges and provide reserve capacities for grid stabilisation. In this way, we are helping to shape the energy landscape of the future - for a power supply from 100% renewable energies.