Bitcoin mining energy consumption revised down

The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, one of the key resources in this area, has had its first major revision since its launch in 2019, leading to a reduction, albeit relatively small, in consumption.

For example, for 2021 where the largest discrepancy occurs, the earlier estimate of 104TWh is revised downward by 15TWh to 89TWh.

For 2023 the estimated anticipated consumption based on the year-to-mid-August is 70.4TWh, rather than 75.7TWh of the earlier model.

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The Cambridge team attribute the change to the modelling of the Bitcoin mining hardware and technology, taking into account both the increased efficiency and power of the evolving application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

With the progressive reduction in chip size, there has been a corresponding reduction in power needed to transmit data.

However, this now appears to have slowed and steadied as the advances have approached the physical limits of semiconductor technology, with smaller chip manufacture becoming more challenging and expensive.

The Cambridge team expresses confidence in their estimates and regards each update as a progressive step toward enhancing their reliability, but the team acknowledges that Bitcoin’s actual electricity consumption remains elusive and can only be approximated.

Moreover, while electricity consumption is a crucial element in determining Bitcoin’s environmental footprint, it is one and the energy sources used in mining are just as important. Further research is planned to focus on developing a more nuanced perspective of Bitcoin’s electricity mix and more closely examining the climate risks and opportunities associated with cryptocurrency mining.

Samsung to add generative AI to home appliances

Samsung has been reported as planning to add a generative AI feature to its home appliances in the next year.

Yoo Mi-young, head of the software development team of Samsung’s digital appliances division, was reported speaking at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin: “Generative AI technologies will be applied to voice, vision and display” to enable the household electronic products to have a better understanding of what consumers do and want and to be able to respond accordingly.

It will enable the gadgets to communicate with users in a more conversational manner, and to better respond to their questions based on past exchanges and in context.

They will also be able to provide recipes and dietary suggestions based on for example the food ingredients stored in the refrigerator.

Yoo Mi-young was also quoted as reporting the development of an energy-efficient chip to process the increasing amounts of data of smart appliances, with features such as generative AI.

Hydrogen-powered van doubles the range of EV counterparts

Canadian hydrogen company First Hydrogen has reported that its hydrogen fuel cell powered light van supplied to GB fleet management provider Rivus has achieved an “unbeatable range”, easily more than doubling the upwards range to 240km of other modern light commercial electric vehicles.

The vehicle was trialed with Rivus for just over 4 weeks, and covered over 1,100km in that time. Tests were completed on diverse routes, providing data on how the vehicle operates under different conditions including urban city centre driving and extra urban routes covering both low-speed city centre roads and motorways.

The tests also covered the van both empty and loaded to 90% of its maximum weight capacity, reflecting the way vans will be used in the real world.

The vehicle was found to be not heavily affected by the speed or the payload, and performed well under the different load cycles compared to the electric counterparts, which can experience reductions in range by approximately 10%.

“The main benefit of the vehicle is the refuelling times are quicker than battery electric vehicles charge times. And of course, unlike internal combustion engines, hydrogen vehicles produce zero emissions,” Gemma Horne, Warranty Controller at Rivus, commented.

Also on the radar are a €140 million ($150 million) financing round for investor EIT InnoEnergy as Europe is set to update energy policy, and a triple acquisition of US gas utilities by Canada-based Enbridge.

Shell to reportedly sell sonnen

On Thursday, German publication Handelsblatt reported that oil giant Shell intends to sell sonnen, the German developer of energy storage systems.

The report comes in as Shell moves to divest its retail operations within the UK, Netherlands and Germany as part of a strategic restructuring.

The strategy follows the company’s review of market conditions, announcing in June its retail exit.

Kicking off the strategy late last week, Shell sold its UK and German domestic operations to energy major Octopus Energy.

Shell’s Dutch operations are winding down and in the process of transition.

Shell acquired sonnen back in 2019. According to Handelsblatt, the sale will be a significant deal for Shell, which acquired the Bavaria-based company for €500 million ($535 million); the sale is expected to be valued between €1.35 billion ($1.4 billion) and €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion), according to Handelsblatt.

So far, sonnen has had a very strong 2023 with an expected turnover of €450 million ($482 million). Earlier this year the company announced increased capacity of its German VPP at 250MWh, marking the largest in Europe.

The company is expecting to grow the demand response tech, which consists of tens of thousands of intelligently-controlled sonnenBatteries throughout Germany, to 1GWh in the coming years.

Shell has declined to comment.

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EIT InnoEnergy’s private placement round

Dutch energy investment company EIT InnoEnergy has received over €140 million from strategic players in industrial, financial, training and digital sectors in a private placement round.

According to the company, proceeds from the financing will be used for increasing new deal flow, launching new industrial initiatives, tapping opportunities from new regulatory frameworks and expanding in the US.

InnoEnergy’s portfolios focus on early-stage innovative technologies and teams in clean tech, normally CAPEX heavy.

InnoEnergy currently has a portfolio of 200 companies, three of which are unicorns, on track to generate €110 billion ($118 billion) in revenue and save 2.1G tonnes of CO2e accumulatively by 2030.

According to InnoEnergy, these companies have collectively raised €9.7 billion ($10.4 billion) in investment to date.

Tabled earlier this year, the European Union has been expecting to pass several policies in mind of better enabling its industrial capacity within the energy sector.

Namely, the European market design has had a proposed reform and the Green Deal Industrial Plan – within which are contained the Critical Raw Materials and Net Zero Industry Acts – will aim to upskill the workforce, develop European clean tech supply chains and lower barriers to deployment.

Part of the private placement round will, states InnoEnergy, also be used for training and upskilling:

“The new skills, and the larger workforce we will need to fulfil net zero objects, are significant, so with our shareholder make-up of those in industrial and financial sectors, and also in academia and research, we are perfectly placed to deliver progress,” stated the company.

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Earlier this week, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) hosted the first High-Level Electricity Grid Forum, of which EIT Innoenergy was a collaborator, during which the grid was placed high on the agenda as a strategic focus for future investments.

New investors in the round include Societe Generale, Santander CIB, PULSE – CMA CGM Energy Fund, Renault Group, Stena Recycling and NIIT.

Existing shareholders Siemens Financial Services, Schneider Electric, Capgemini, Volkswagen Group, ING, Koolen Industries, GROUPE IDEC and Engie were also among the strategic players.

Commenting on the announcement, Diego Pavia, CEO of EIT InnoEnergy, said: “New strategic players have joined InnoEnergy’s outstanding cap table, several shareholders have reinvested, and altogether we have secured sufficient fresh financial resources to double our on-going impact.

“The accelerated energy transition in Europe and in the world, and an increased re-industrialisation ambition in the western world are unique opportunities for InnoEnergy, its portfolio companies and our trusted ecosystem partners. We have geared up for the journey ahead.”

Details on individual investor contributions have not been disclosed.

Triple gas utility acquisition

Canada-based energy company Enbridge has acquired three US-based gas utilities to create what it is calling the largest natural gas utility franchise in the US.

Enbridge entered three separate agreements with Dominion Energy to acquire EOG, Questar and PSNC for the purchase, which totals $14 billion after deductions, including $4.6 billion of assumed debt.

Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the US, transporting crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company also generates renewable energy, touting a growing European offshore wind portfolio.

Upon the closings, Enbridge will add to its portfolio gas utility operations in Ohio, North Carolina, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, representing a significant presence in the US utility sector.

The acquisitions will double the scale of the company’s gas utility business to approximately 22% of Enbridge’s total adjusted EBITDA and is hoped to balance the company’s asset mix evenly between natural gas and renewables, as well as liquids.

Enbridge states that following the closings, its gas utility business will be the largest by volume in North America with a combined rate base of over CDN$27 billion ($19.8 billion).

In a press release announcing the acquisition, Enbridge cites how “high-quality, utility cash flows from the gas utilities” will reduce its business risk.

Michele Harradence, president of GDS and executive vice-president at Enbridge, commented that the utilities, each being based in the US, offer strategic advantage when it comes to regulation, namely how they “operate in regions with very attractive regulatory regimes” while offering diverse, low-risk growth opportunities.

However, earlier this week, credit ratings agency Moody’s changed Enbridge’s outlook from stable to negative, a result of the acquisitions.

“The negative outlook on Enbridge is prompted by the company’s announcement that it would acquire US gas utilities… adding pressure to an already weak financial profile that we expect to persist following the transaction close,” said Gavin MacFarlane, Moody’s vice-president – senior credit officer.

“Although Enbridge’s business risk profile improves modestly with the transaction, it is not enough to offset ongoing pressure on the company’s financial profile.”

What are your thoughts on Shell‘s reported strategy to move away from the residential market? If the reports are correct it will be interesting to see who manages to acquire sonnen, which has only been growing.

For the latest finance and investment announcements coming out of the energy sector, make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances Weekly.

I will also be attending Bentley’s upcoming Going Digital Awards in Infrastructure in Singapore in October. Will I see you there?

Cheers,
Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

Follow me on LinkedIn

Electric utilities are being asked to do what may seem like the impossible. They need to rapidly modernise to accommodate the transition to renewables and two-way power flow. They have to improve the reliability of a rickety grid, a lot of which is past its prime.

They must make both new and old infrastructure resilient to climate change disruptions to head off more frequent outages and catastrophic fires and regulators and customers want all this without big rate hikes.

No one solution can resolve all these challenges. But inspection automation is certain to play a part. It can help with modernisation, reliability and resilience while being a net positive in terms of cost. The latest T&D inspection technology can transform operations.

It partially automates everything from new power line siting to diagnosing problems on existing equipment. It leverages the power of AI to alert managers before a transformer blows or check a pole that’s way overdue for replacement. The data it collects provides the agility, visibility and deep insight organisations need to move from reactive to predictive maintenance.

T&D inspection at the speed of flight

Advanced inspection can be used to monitor for all sorts of maintenance issues in transmission power line structures. The process begins with a drone or crewed aircraft equipped with a combination of data capture technologies: thermal sensing, computer vision, high-definition photography and geo-positioning flying over the T&D line. At the speed of flight, the aircraft collects images and heat data along the entire line.

This creates a wealth of data: visual, thermal and geospatial. Depending on the length of a T&D line, this can mean millions of images. That’s where AI automation comes in. An AI-driven platform can automatically upload, tag, organise and analyse multiple data types and sources. It can sort through imagery rapidly, flagging only those images that show suspected anomalies or vegetation problems, with detail down to a few millimeters.

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Technicians review only these instead of combing through a drop box full of images that all look so similar that it’s easy to miss something. Though the full record of images is there in case a need arises. What was a manual job that previously took field techs and linemen months is done in a fraction of the time.

An AI platform can then provide specific recommendations on repairs or vegetation management, prioritising those that need immediate attention. More than that, the O&M team gets a GIS-true, 3D visualisation of the entire line with a timestamped record for each pole: location, asset health, defect type, severity of problems and state of vegetation. It’s a complete record of the assets at one moment in time, providing baseline data that allows managers to move from reactive or scheduled maintenance to predictive maintenance. Failures are tracked over time, and AI determines what needs repair or an upgrade before it can cause a power disruption.

Precision inspections for distribution poles

The US’s 160 to 180 million power distribution poles are a weak link in our electric power system. They are increasingly vulnerable to more frequent and intense hurricanes, winter bomb cyclones, atmospheric rivers, drought, fires and high temperatures. One study examining two major East Coast cities found that accelerated wood decay from a harsher environment can increase total maintenance cost for these poles to between 6% and 8%, based on standard utility practices and how much temperatures climb.

By examining the full height of poles, advanced inspections using drones can improve the insights collected during traditional wood pole inspections. Without a bucket truck, O&M teams can:

• Detect unusual heat signatures not likely to be caught by visual RGB sensors and ground inspection crews.
• Check the full height of poles and cross-arms and photo-document all kinds of issues: the extent of insect infestation, rot from moisture, rodent chewing, woodpecker holes, damage from fire charring or lightning strikes and large knots and horizontal cracks that may weaken the pole.
• Look at poles from above to see split tops.
• Find failed lightning arrestors.
• Document and assess burn marks from transformer failures or conductor faults.
• Detect failed fused switches on capacitor banks or overhead fused disconnects.
• Assess whether hardware at heights needs tightening due to pole shrinkage.
• Identify damaged or missing insulators or brackets and fraying guy wires and support cables.
• Plus, pinpointing when to replace or reinforce poles to meet the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) has a significant upside. Companies that nail this interval with precision can optimise their maintenance budgets.

How to capitalise on funding to adopt advanced inspection technology

In the last network-infrastructure review, the US Department of Energy found that approximately 70% of the US grid’s transmission lines are over 25 years old, and the average age of large power transformers, which handle 90% of the nation’s electricity flow, is more than 40 years. Some of our country’s electricity networks are over a century old and most distribution poles have been in the ground for 50 or more years, past their expected useful life.

This reality poses economic and security threats. The federal government responded in 2022 with a five-year grant program providing over $450 million annually to states and tribal nations to improve grid resilience and prevent disruptions. Qualifying projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill include:

• Utility pole upkeep and removal of trees and other vegetation affecting grid performance.
• Undergrounding electrical equipment.
• Relocating or reconductoring power lines.
• Improvements to make the grid resistant to extreme weather.
• Implementing monitoring, controls and advanced modeling for real-time situational awareness.

Advanced inspection technology helps with most of these, including the data collection and analysis necessary for tracking and reporting metrics, a funding prerequisite. Utilities seeking grants to modernize operations with this sort of automation have a strong case. 

Mission Possible: Modernisation, reliability, and resilience

No infrastructure inspection can be entirely automated. Utilities will always need human judgment as part of the analysis of T&D inspection data. But monitoring that combines aerial data capture and visual analysis using AI is an essential advance for the industry.

Frontline workforces and managers can do more with less since surveys are completed faster without additional manpower. Utilities get important data that can help head off outages. They get near-real-time visibility into asset health and a view over time.

Advanced inspection technology brings the power of data to electric power system operations, which can translate into measurable payback. Deloitte found that, on average, predictive maintenance increases productivity by 25%, reduces breakdowns by 70% and lowers maintenance costs by 25%. With this kind of time and cost savings, utilities can invest in additional resources that further boost reliability for the energy transition.

About the author:

Andrew Maximow leads the Utility US Sales team for Zeitview and has a career spanning over 20 years in fast-growth technology domains, progressively moving from engineering to leadership roles. Maximow possesses BS & MS degrees in Industrial & Systems Engineering.

Electrification and renewables top McKinsey’s tech trends

McKinsey’s Technology Trends Outlook 2023 report has electrification and renewables as the largest of the 15 trends identified in terms of interest and investment.

The survey finds there was a $288 billion equity investment in the area in 2022 and a 27% increase in job postings over the previous year, which is also among the largest recorded for all the trends.

Alongside this climate tech beyond electrification and renewables, such as carbon capture, attracted less interest, with $86 billion equity investment and a modest 8% increase in job postings.

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Other tech trends identified include applied AI, which tops the innovation axis, next-gen software development, cloud and edge computing and web3, these and others are all identical to the previous year.

Except for the one new entrant to the line-up, namely generative AI. McKinsey records generative AI as representing the next frontier for AI and also attributes to providing much of the credit for an observed resurgence of enthusiasm in the first half of 2023 about technology’s potential to catalyse progress in business and society after a tumultuous 2022.

Building upon existing technologies such as applied AI and industrialising machine learning, generative AI has high potential and applicability across most industries, states McKinsey.

Interest in the topic, as gauged by news and internet searches, increased threefold from 2021 to 2022 and generative AI is poised to add as much as $4.4 trillion in economic value from use cases that increase productivity.

DEWA innovates on battery performance

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)’s Research and Development (R&D) Centre has filed a new patent for an innovation for improving the performance of electrodes in lithium-ion batteries, sodium–sulphur batteries and electrolyte distribution batteries.

This, a low-cost, environmentally friendly method, is achieved by treating the electrodes chemically using a polymer to increase the number of active groups on the surface of the electrodes, which leads to improving their performance.

The patent supports the pilot project for energy storage that DEWA has inaugurated at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park using Tesla’s lithium-ion battery solution. The project has a power capacity of 1.21MW and an energy capacity of 8.61MWh with a life span of up to 10 years.

“DEWA relies on research and innovation to support the development of energy storage technologies and increase the share of clean and renewable energy,” says HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA.

“This supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100% of Dubai’s total power production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.”

This pilot project is the second battery energy storage pilot project by DEWA at the solar park. The first project was implemented in collaboration with AMPLEX–NGK to install and test a sodium sulphur energy solution with a power capacity of 1.2MW and an energy capacity of 7.5MWh.

Solar table for gardens

German solar technology innovator Technaxx is launching its latest product – a solar table for householders to place in gardens or on balconies or terraces and which can double both as a table and a solar power generator.

The table, which is approximately 173cmx114cm in size and can seat up to eight people, has a fold-up top that can be adjusted to set angles up to 35o to maximise the solar generation capacity and produce up to 410W peak power.

With it is a pre-assembled micro inverter, which converts the generated solar power into AC and can be easily plugged into a household socket to supply power to the home.

Twenty years after the first publication of the IEC 61850 standard in 2003, the utility transmission and distribution businesses and operating environments have changed beyond recognition.

Then the first tentative steps into the digital world were taken with the digitalization of substations.

Though the concept of smartening and automating the grids was starting to emerge with the rolling out of smart meters, successive technological advancements have opened more new and innovative applications.

Alongside this, the transition to net zero is leading to the accelerated integration of utility-scale and residential distributed energy sources to the grids, while wide-scale electrification across sectors such as transportation, heavy industry and home appliances is introducing changes and uncertainties unprecedented for the system operators.

At the same time, the legacy communications technologies that have formed the foundations of power grids today, such as time division multiplexing interfaces, and analogue E&M interfaces used in devices such as relays and remote terminal units, have passed beyond the end of their technology lifecycle, necessitating replacement with next generation devices.

With these developments, IEC 61850 has been expanded to offer a one-stop utility automation framework to meet the complex challenges of operating a dynamic, distributed, intelligent, multivendor grid, both now and in the future.

What are some IEC 61850 use cases?

The first publication of IEC 61850 aimed to enable open and interoperable digital information exchanges for substation automation applications.

Today, with the expansion of the scope of IEC 61850, utilities can use it for automation between substations, for automation between substations, control centres and data centres and for a range of grid-related applications including condition monitoring diagnosis, the transmission of synchrophasor information, power quality and distribution automation.

These are significant developments for power utilities. For example, distribution automation in the feeder domain of distribution grids with the automation of monitoring, protection, and restoration to improve reliability, safety and efficiency at the distribution level.

Similarly, synchrophasor data opens the way to optimizing line capacities and efficiencies and facilitating integration with distributed energy resources.

As an example of such a use case, Dominique Verhulst, Global Energy Practice Leader at Nokia, cites a fire mitigation initiative by a US utility that draws synchrophasor data from several points on the distribution network, which is aggregated and analyzed to recognize breaking conductors and from where a goose message can be sent to the appropriate line switches to de-energize the line “before it hits the ground”, mitigating the risk of fires.

Such new use cases rely on the latest high bandwidth, low latency networks, which also offer the opportunity to implement a true multi-vendor environment.

“With the standardizations in these protocols it opens up the opportunity for utilities to step closer to multivendor interoperability for protection and control systems,” he says.

What are the steps to implementing IEC 61850?

Turning to the practicalities and technicalities of an IEC 61850 implementation, Hansen Chan, Product Marketing Manager for Digital Industries at Nokia, advises that the starting point for a utility is to evaluate the status of its communications infrastructure.

Some issues to consider include the right connectivity to support applications – such as distribution automation – that are both bandwidth intensive and latency sensitive, whether in the substation domain or in the wide area network and down to the last mile to smart meters in the feeder domains.

“With software playing a more and more dominant role in grid operation, communication reliability is key as without connectivity there is no visibility. Then the grid control system just would not function.”

Chan mentions that another key consideration is the “human layer” at the organizational level.

“Implementing IEC 61850 is a multi-disciplinary effort, so you need everyone to be on the same page and to work together towards a single vision. There are different teams that need to be involved not just on the communications side but for example in IT, as new software such as ADMS being delivered in a virtualized compute environment, the data centre network has become a critical part of the communication infrastructure foundation for IEC 61850.”

Verhulst adds that this multi-disciplinary requirement mirrors the trend in utilities of new talent hires who are familiar with these technologies at both hardware and software levels.

This will support the ongoing development of IEC 61850 with their ability to develop new solutions around it.

“Our expectation is that IEC 61850 will keep evolving towards more centralized protection and control and centralized remedial actions schemes that are relying on the more recent variants of the protocols such as the routed goose and sampled values that are becoming popular with utilities.”

What are the components of the IEC 61850 communication infrastructure?

IEC 61850 communications start from the station and process buses in substations and extend to the grid edge via the field area network (FAN) as well as to the network control centre and data center via the wide area network.

Thus, a reliable and functioning communication infrastructure is key.

Chan highlights the “service-centric approach” of Nokia, saying that it is an essential requirement of such a network foundation to support many different grid applications.

“There will be more and more applications coming for which one will need more and more network virtual segmentation and so one needs to have a communication network platform that allows them to be rolled out as required,” he says.

Chan also emphasizes the importance of incorporating broadband wireless access technology such as LTE into the service-centric network in order to deploy IEC 61850-based assets at the grid edge where fiber is not available.

Verhulst states that Nokia’s solutions are very comprehensive with radio access networks that allow individual private wireless infrastructures based on LTE or 5G to be built and are based on a “strong utility focus”, considering elements such as the backhaul requirements and the substation communication elements.

“Our implementation is an end-to-end IP/MPLS solution including a full series of substation and wireless fieldrouters, packet microwave and DWDM optical transport as well as the backbone networking infrastructure.”

He adds that cybersecurity concerns also have been considered and that secure encryption and key cycling are provided to safeguard grid communications.

What are the benefits of an IEC 61850 implementation?

Some of the stated benefits of an IEC 61850 implementation include the ability to roll out applications in a unified manner, interoperability with legacy devices and future-proofing for new technology integrations.

Verhulst says that utilities with which Nokia has worked on network implementations have seen improvements in SAIDI averaging between 30% to 50%.

Further, a JRC study on UK utilities found that they could save around £13 billion (€15.2 billion/$16.5 billion) in grid infrastructure investment with their implementation.

He also returns to the interoperability benefits, saying that Nokia sees IEC 61850 as clearly indicating the trend of utilities being able to “pick and choose” from among the vendors.

“It’s not going to be about whose hardware or software we should buy but more about who has the best to do what we need.

“And added value is going to come with the innovation from the vendors so it’s an interesting move that we will see more of ahead in the next five to ten years.”

Also on the radar are stats from BNEF showing how, in 2022, clean energy activities generated at least $2.56 trillion globally and the latest green bond from E.ON valued at a total of €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion).

Energy trading optimised by grid physics

US-based SESCO Enterprises has announced the use of a mathematical optimisation model to simulate market dynamics based on the transmission grid.

Namely, the power trader has signed on with Gurobi Optimisation LLC, which develops decision intelligence tech, to support their price optimisation.

As a trading firm in the energy markets, SESCO’s goal is to simulate the condition of the national grid, as well as consumer demand for the electricity it delivers.

These outputs simulate energy market dynamics and become inputs to the models SESCO has built to determine bid pricing at auction.

“The unique thing about electricity markets is that prices aren’t really determined by people buying and selling in an order book. Next-day prices are determined at the ISO (Independent System Operator) auction, where clearing prices are often set by the outcome of an optimisation solve – typically using tools like Gurobi,” explains Dylan Modesitt, chief investment officer of SESCO.

“So using the partial information we have, we try to determine what the optimal pricing would be.”

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SESCO’s business involves speculating on next-day electricity prices, as well as the longer-term forward markets for trading power.

“Our trading expertise is about the congestion component of price, which is the kind of pricing differential that arises from transmission lines being saturated at their limit,” explained Modesitt.

“And when transmission lines are saturated to some local limit, loss is going to emit as heat. So to avoid any kind of catastrophic failure, price signals are sent on either side of that transmission line. It’s a lot of demand speculation, and it requires an understanding of the actual physics of the grid.”

SESCO began building out mathematical models and used them to solve toy problems with another commercial solver.

However, states the trader, due to several million constraints and variables, either the incumbent solver was unable to find feasible solutions, or each solve simply took too long to be useful.

Hence the turn to Gurobi, which they state provides a solution that can capture the complex effects of the physical grid state as it impacts market outcomes.

Specifically, the advanced optimisation techniques used by Gurobi’s solver, states SESCO, improve the pricing precision and capital efficiency of their trading approach.

Listed global firms hit $2.56 trillion in clean energy revenues

According to analysis from BloombergNEF (BNEF), in 2022 clean energy activities generated at least $2.56 trillion globally, with power utilities and renewable manufacturers accounting for two-thirds of the figure.

The figure forms 2.6% of GDP, according to BNEF’s Clean Energy Exposure Ratings, which identified and rated over 8,000 listed companies with revenue exposure to clean energy activities, from over 50,000 assessed.

Listed electric utilities like EDF, Enel and E.ON accounted for $1.06 trillion (42% of the total) in clean energy revenues, followed by renewable energy manufacturers and developers including CATL, Vestas and Trina Solar, contributing $628 billion (25%) in clean energy revenues in 2022.

“While automakers like Volkswagen and Toyota are among the biggest earners in the rankings, their exposure remains low and so the auto industry only contributes $370 billion to the total,” said Mike Daly, lead author of the report.

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E.ON issues €1.5 billion in green bonds

E.ON has successfully issued two bond tranches with a combined volume of €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), backed by a combined peak orderbook of €4.3 billion ($4.7 billion).

Both tranches value €750 million ($815.6 million) each, with the first maturing in March 2029 and the second in August 2033.

E.ON’s CFO Marc Spieker commented on the green bonds: “The high demand from investors underlines again that we are on the right track with our strategy, which is focused on sustainability, digitalisation and growth.

“E.ON is determined to drive forward the energy transition in Europe. We want to invest a total of €33 billion ($35.9 billion) in the energy transition by 2027. Green bonds are an important financing instrument to do this, and we will continue to use them for our financing in the future.”

According to E.ON, a positive market environment has already allowed them to prefund financing needs for the upcoming 2024 fiscal year, while 2023 funding needs were already covered successfully by a €1.8 billion ($2 billion) bond issuance in January.

The proceeds of this green bonds will thus be used to finance and/or refinance Eligible Green Projects as defined in E.ON’s Green Bond Framework.

Bank of America Securities, Deutsche Bank, Natwest Markets and Unicredit served as active bookrunners in the transaction.

What are some of the strategies you’ve seen companies use to improve their energy trading and analytics? Are there any you’d like to see covered? Let me know.

For the latest finance and investment news coming from the energy sector, make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances Weekly.

Cheer,
Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

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Superfast charging LFP batteries for EVs

A 10 minute charge providing a driving range of 400km and a full charge delivering 700km?

That would satisfy most EV drivers and eliminate range anxiety – and it is claimed to be coming with Chinese battery manufacturing company CATL’s new lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery named ‘Shenxing’.

CATL reports leveraging the super-electronic network cathode technology and fully nano-crystallized LFP cathode material to create a super-electronic network, which facilitates the extraction of lithium ions and the rapid response to charging signals.

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Its latest second-generation fast ion ring technology is used to modify the properties of graphite surface, which increases intercalation channels and shortens the intercalation distance for lithium ions, creating an expressway for current conduction.

A new superconducting electrolyte formula, which effectively reduces the viscosity of the electrolyte, resulting in improved conductivity, also has been developed.

Other improvements include reduced resistance of lithium-ion movement, while cell temperature control technology ensures that cells heat up to the optimal operating temperature range rapidly, allowing a 0-80% charge in just 30 minutes in temperature as low as -10°C.

CATL anticipates that mass production of Shenxing will be achieved before year-end and the first vehicles with the battery will be available on the market in the first quarter of next year.

Improving Bitcoin mining efficiency

With Bitcoin mining notoriously energy intensive and miners rushing to adopt greener and more sustainable operations, another alternative, which is being pursued by the London-based Quantum Blockchain Technologies, is to improve the efficiency of the mining itself and thus in turn its energy consumption.

The company’s ‘Method A’, unlike the standard approach of running as many hashes as possible within the available period, decides at the beginning of each block hashing whether to hash using a traditional search or a spaced confined search, with testing demonstrating an approximately 10% in mining speed.

But its ‘Method B’, for which a patent application was recently filed, is even more efficient, based on partial pre-computation on upcoming blocks prior to the current one being closed and guiding the search by deciding where the most promising winning hashes are likely to be found.

With this approach, the number of logic gates on the chip is reduced and the processing of a large number of hashes is avoided to obtain the results in less time.

In this case, there should be a 2.6x improvement in the ability to find a winning hash, compared to standard search, while saving up to 4.3% of energy.

However, its implementation requires a new architecture and the design of a new mining chip.

Setting sail with ‘Windwings’

Mitsubishi Corporation’s ‘Pyxis Ocean’, a 229m long bulk carrier vessel on charter to the global food giant Cargill, has become the first to be fitted with a novel wind propulsion system that could be key for the decarbonisation of shipping.

The two ‘Windwings’, which were designed by BAR Technologies in the EU Horizon 2020 supported initiative, are large wing sails measuring up to 37,5m in height with a 10m wide central component and front and rear 5m wide flaps that can be fitted to the deck of cargo ships, both new and as a retrofit, to harness the power of the wind.

The windwings can rotate and also pivot, right down to deck level, to allow for the differing wind angles and speeds.

With this wind assist, the windwings are expected to deliver average fuel savings of up to 30%.

The ‘Pyxis Ocean’ is currently on its maiden voyage with the windwings from Shanghai, where they were fitted, to Paranagua in Brazil with their performance being closely monitored to further improve their design and operation.

Hundreds of wings are planned to be built over the next few years and BAR Technologies is also researching new builds with improved hydrodynamic hull forms.

Also on the radar are two further acquisitions: that of a Chinese EV manufacturer by a Dubai-based tech company, as well as of a grids-focused advisory company by a US-based global consultancy.

SMS acquires heat pump division for flexibility services

The Scottish smart metering company has announced the acquisition of Evergreen Energy’s domestic services division, which specialises in the installation and maintenance of renewable energy assets, including heat pumps, solar and battery storage for homeowners.

According to SMS, the acquisition will enhance their capacity to deliver an extended range of low-carbon, behind-the-meter energy solutions to the UK’s domestic and commercial marketplaces.

The company, which earlier this year pointed to their flagship smart meter services and storage portfolios as key profit areas, is calling the acquisition “highly complementary to SMS’s leading role in the delivery of Great Britain’s smart meter programme, owning and managing c.4.5 million meter and data assets for customers,” they state in a press release.

Heat pumps are a key clean tech asset for enabling demand side response, which is gaining attraction in the UK as a method of alleviating peak demand on the country’s grid system.

The acquisition is thus hoped to deliver associated data solutions and demand flexibility services to energy suppliers, businesses and consumers.

Earlier this year in February, SMS announced a demand side response project, part of the UK Government’s Flexibility Innovation Programme, to design and deliver testing schemes for flexibility applications.

Earlier this week, UK market research company Cornwall Insight released research illustrating the crucial element smart meters represent for flexibility services, which have exponential savings potential, should households participate.

Also from Smart Energy Finances:
How the faltering grid drives investment
IMServ’s strategic smart metering acquisition to tap MHHS

SMS’s acquisition follows other strategic investments made last year in EV charge point software company, Clenergy EV, and of smart energy data platform, n3rgy, which similarly bolstered SMS’s presence in the EV charging infrastructure and data services markets.

Evergreen Energy’s other divisions, including the Homely and Easy MCS brands are not included in the transaction and will operate independently from the Evergreen Energy brand going forward.

Stated SMS CEO Tim Mortlock: “Whilst we will continue to operate the Evergreen Energy brand that has been successfully established within the northwest, the acquisition will bolster the Group’s overall capacity to deliver these carbon reduction assets on a wider national scale to a fast-growing domestic and commercial marketplace.

“The location of Evergreen’s Manchester base close to our national training academy and innovation centre in Bolton, where we are focussed on upskilling our engineering workforce and testing new technologies, will also be highly beneficial.”

A Middle Eastern acquisition of Chinese EV manufacturing

Dubai-headquartered mobility tech company NWTN has reached an agreement to make a strategic investment of $500 million in China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group (EVGRF), a Chinese automobile manufacturer that specialises in developing EVs, aiming to accelerate the company’s position in the EV space.

NWTN and EVGRF entered into a share subscription agreement pursuant to which NWTN will acquire approximately 27.50% of shares of EVGRF alongside the right to nominate a majority of EVGRF’s board.

The proposed transaction is expected to close in Q4 2023, subject to customary and other closing conditions.

NWTN, a mobility and green energy company, has a full vehicle assembly facility in Abu Dhabi. Technologically, the company has expanded its capabilities to include PV generation, green hydrogen production and energy storage.

The strategic acquisition forms part of the company’s continuing expansion, vying in growing markets in the Middle East, North Africa, China and other countries.

NWTN states an emphasis for their business on the use of AI technologies, autonomous driving and personalised passenger experience as key to its market positioning.

The company believes a partnership with EVGRF will be instrumental in addressing the EV needs of the Middle East and will facilitate EVGRF’s research and development and mass production of new car models for eventual export overseas.

According to Reuters, the deal forms part of a $3.2 billion plan unveiled by Evergrande to reduce its debt and stay afloat.

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Consultancy’s acquisition to reinforce grid expertise

US-based ICF, a global consulting and tech services provider, has acquired CMY Solutions, a power and energy engineering firm that advises on decision-making for grid modernisation, programmes and investments.

Founded in 2016, CMY’s team of 50 specialised experts advise senior leaders of utilities and developers across the US, Europe and Asia, including investor-owned utilities, electric municipalities and electric cooperatives.

ICF on the other hand consists of approximately 9,000 employees, consisting of business analysts and policy specialists who work alongside digital strategists, data scientists and creatives in the public and private sectors.

The acquisition brings to ICF strong backgrounds in renewable energy integration, distributed energy resources (DER) impact studies and management.

Additionally, CMY brings “deep technical expertise in substation, transmission and distribution system design, protection and control, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) compliance, as well as system planning and capital strategy consulting,” states ICF in a press release announcing the acquisition.

Commenting on the acquisition was John Wasson, ICF chair and CEO, who stated how the deal will “strengthen our ability to support utilities’ needs for grid transformation, reliability, resilience and renewables integration in a much more holistic way.

“As one team, we will scale our industry-leading energy service offerings and continue to grow our rapidly expanding technology and data management capabilities across the various markets we serve.”

Acquisitions have been key in this week’s Smart Energy Finances with smart metering for flexibility, EV manufacturing and grid modernisation expertise for consulting all seen driving strategic corporate moves.

What are your thoughts? What have you seen as having a large influence on decision-making when it comes to acquisitions in the energy sector and what would you like me to cover?

Let me know.

Cheers,
Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

Follow me on Linkedin

Over the past few decades, commercial buildings have become a focal point in the fight to minimise the global carbon footprint because they consume a lot of energy due to the increased use of cooling, heating, ventilation systems, lighting and computers. Some companies even use cleanrooms, which require up to 50 times more energy than non-classified spaces.

This means that commercial buildings, although unable to choose whether they use fossil or renewable energy as they are subject to the grid’s supply, have a lot to gain and contribute by using more renewable energy sources. In the near future they may not have a choice as commercial buildings face evolving regulation that either incentivizes owners to make the sustainable move or requires them to do so.

Although fossil fuels remain a prominent power source due to their replacements’ intermittency, Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) will solve this unreliability problem and propel buildings and businesses in the right direction. Here’s how.

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Virtual power plants to the rescue

It’s already widely acknowledged that sustainable energy is the future for power, with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) recently declaring long-term energy storage “the most pressing utility scale needed in the next decade” – the ability to store energy from renewable resources for later use is the answer.

VPPs have been around for the better part of 40 years. They give the ability to harness sustainable energy by bringing together multiple energy sources, also referred to as Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), such as solar panels, electric batteries, wind turbines.

The VPP then forms a system based on supply and demand that can be controlled according to the current grid needs so that it can avoid consuming power when it’s expensive and limited to consuming power when it’s cheap and abundant, all the way to providing power back to the grid when supply is limited – all in the hope of reducing the grid’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Some of the above mentioned energy resources are only relevant during the daytime (for example, solar panels) and become less efficient on cloudy or rainy days; wind-based energy depends on the fluctuating airflow, wave energy relies on ocean waves to generate electricity, and hydropower utilizes the gravitational force of falling or flowing water.

So there is some justification for businesses to hesitate in relying more on renewable energy sources, which they deem as unstable. Considering that a single hour of downtime can cost organisations over $100,000 from lost revenues and reputational damage, businesses are rightfully hesitant to rely on these solutions without fossil fuel backup.

However, although the grid currently runs in a one directional way and renewable energy sources are less consistent individually – when they become part of an extensive network of devices that supports a building’s energy needs around the clock, regardless of the time of day or weather conditions, they create a consistent and reliable energy supply alternative.

Also of interest:
Germany’s sonnen announces 250MWh VPP as ‘Europe’s largest’
Energy Transitions Podcast: Overcoming funding pitfalls for net-zero projects

VPPs: Multiple energy sources, multiple advantages

In our ‘smart’ age, the new generation of VPPs present a far more efficient way of using renewable energy. Today’s VPPs live up to their promise by eliminating integrating more resources into the grid, leveraging its flexibility, enabling greater share of renewable energy sources thus optimizing the grid’s capacity so it can do more with less.

This means that the VPPs are able to perform two activities. The first is control demand flexibility, the easier of the two, which turns off power demand when the grid is overworked. The second is to provide a supply service by supplying power back to the grid in exchange for lower rates, flat fees or similar.

Through these services, the risk of relying on sensitive sources is minimized and the ability to provide a continuous supply of energy based on actual demand is strengthened. Simultaneously, at times when supply is high, onsite or ‘ behind the meter’ energy storage solutions ensure that the surplus energy isn’t lost but stored to be utilised when needed.

Commercial buildings can then be part of a grid that provides a smart, reliable, cost-effective solution that considers both the planet’s and their business’ needs. Additionally, buildings can choose whether to include their energy assets as part of the VPP network, such as EV charging, and help the grid become more stable.

By doing so, VPPs enable commercial buildings to contribute to a greater solution together with the climate-responsible grid, to do their best without taking unreasonable risks, creating an energy ecosystem that is better for businesses, communities, and the planet.

As VPPs advance, so does our ability to move away from harmful energy resources and offer future generations a more sustainable approach. Doing so without asking businesses to sacrifice their ability to plan ahead and meet revenue goals is critical.

As the load on the grid is expected to grow exponentially in the coming months and years, now is the time to scale up and move forward to make the VPP part of the solution. The time is ripe to give VPP its time to shine.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yoram Ashery has been the CEO of storage tech company Nostromo Energy since May 2021, specialising in managing technology companies, designing and executing international go-to-market plans and leading business development and complex financing and commercial transactions.

DEWA files 3D printing patent

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)’s Research and Development Centre is something of a pioneer with 3D printing and has just filed a new patent for an innovative build plate and method to detach 3D printed objects automatically.

This is intended to improve the performance of 3D printers by easing the removal of 3D printed objects during the printing process and thereby making it feasible to have a continuous 3D printing operation.

The invention supports DEWA’s intensive efforts to develop advanced infrastructure and specialised software in 3D printing and additive manufacturing, and invest in them to overcome challenges in the energy sector, according to the utility.

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HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, says that the utility supports Dubai’s endeavours to become the global hub for 3D printing by finding innovative solutions and technologies that modernise the manufacture of spare parts in its business.

“We adopt 3D printing as an innovative solution for our internal operations to print spare parts for devices and equipment, in addition to extending the lifespan of our equipment,” he says, adding that DEWA is the first organisation in the GCC to apply metal 3D printing technology using threads and wires.

DEWA reports having achieved a Guinness World Records title for its 3D printed laboratory and previously a patent has been registered for an adhesive device for 3D printers, which automatically distributes the adhesive material on the 3D printing plate, to ensure that the printed material sticks adequately to the build plate.

Harnessing the power of quantum for solar energy harvesting

Northeastern University professor Sijia Dong has been awarded a US Department of Energy grant to explore algorithms for simulations on quantum computers that may further the pursuit of renewable energy sources.

Specifically what Dong wants to do is develop quantum algorithms that can enable quantum chemical simulations of macromolecules that may be leveraged for solar energy harvesting and conversion.

“In photosynthesis, a plant can convert solar energy to make sugar, a chemical that can help the plant survive,” says Dong, an assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology as well as affiliated faculty of physics and chemical engineering at Northeastern.

“If we can do something like this artificially – convert the solar energy into chemical energy to make materials or useful chemicals – that will be very helpful for society.”

To date, Dong and her team have been using traditional digital computers to simulate the photochemistry of macromolecules and materials that could lead to new forms of clean energy.

However, it is a hard problem computationally and if the simulations can be carried over to a quantum computer, that should greatly accelerate the capability of developing such molecules and materials.

A Samsung Galaxy Ring

This column doesn’t normally cover rumours, but those about Samsung mobile products tend to be quite reliable so we have no hesitation in reporting the likely release of a Samsung Galaxy Ring.

Why a Galaxy Ring is of interest is because early patents indicate that it has potential for smart home integration and to control connected devices.

What we know so far is that a smart ring is almost certainly under development with a possible launch in 2024.

Based on the patents filed, other possible integrations include health tracking, such as heart rate and temperature monitoring, and coupled with XR glasses, finger and hand tracking in XR applications based on their positional information.

The concept of a connected ring isn’t new and the Oura ring as a fitness monitor has been around since 2015.

For Samsung, it would mark the company’s continuous evolution in the wearables market as an adjunct to its mobiles, while potentially providing a significant step up in convenience for smart home enthusiasts.

Also on the radar is significant growth from Chameleon Technologies, which announced their 10 millionth smart meter IHD as well as Greenbird’s acquisition by energy giant GE Vernova.

Nikola Motors shares on the fall

Nikola Motors, an Arizona-headquartered electric truck maker, has voluntarily recalled 209 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) after reporting a coolant leak as the cause of an EV truck fire at their headquarters earlier this year.

A temporary hold has been placed on Nikola’s BEV sales.

“The safety of customers, dealers and team members are Nikola’s top priority,” stated the company in a press release last Friday as days later the company’s stock plummeted.

According to Bloomberg reportage, the company’s shares fell by up to 20% at the start of the week, a trend signalling another nail to the coffin after the company’s shares were recorded as falling 98% from their peak reached in June 2020.

Internal investigations from Nikola’s safety and engineering teams indicated a single supplier component within the battery pack as the likely source of the coolant leak.

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“At Nikola we take safety very seriously,” said Steve Girsky, Nikola’s CEO. “We stated from the beginning that as soon as our investigations were concluded we would provide an update, and we will continue our transparency as we learn more.”

The company’s initial statement on the fire in June alluded to foul play as a possible cause, although a review has since suggested foul play or other external factors were unlikely.

Although the Class 8 Tre BEV’s have been recalled, the company has stated that their hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), which are currently in production, will not be affected as they make use of a different battery design.

According to the company’s Q2 2023 report, 18 customers placed orders to Nikola and dealers for over 200 hydrogen FCEVs.

Nikola Corporation designs and manufactures heavy-duty BEVs, FCEVs and energy infrastructure solutions, such as energy storage systems and hydrogen charging station infrastructure, through its brand HYLA, which was launched in January this year to oversee the company’s energy products for producing, distributing and dispensing hydrogen.

The BEV case follows the company naming a fourth CEO after Michael Lohscheller stepped down earlier this month due to family concerns, leading to the company losing more than a quarter of its market value, states Reuters. Lohscheller was replaced by former General Motors executive Stephen Girsky.

Nikola has flagged “substantial doubts” about its ability to continue as a going concern for the next year, reiterating its warning for the third time since February, as it awaits “critical” additional capital.

The news from Nikola also comes as concerns rise over fires caused by EV batteries.

Research released in February this year, Full-scale fire testing of battery electric vehicles, finds that although the characteristics of BEV fires are similar to those of traditional passenger vehicles, jet flames caused by thermal runaway – a result of exponential increases in heat within the battery cell – “accelerates the fire spread to other combustibles of BEVs”.

Thus, states the researchers, thermal runaway and reignition mark major risks to first responders.

Also from Smart Energy Finances:
How the faltering grid drives investment
IMServ’s strategic smart metering acquisition to tap MHHS

GE Vernova acquires Greenbird

Energy major GE Vernova’s digital business has acquired Greenbird Integration Technology AS, a data integration platform company focused on utilities.

The acquisition comes 10 years after Greenbird’s launch; the company’s platform will accelerate GridOS, which the company calls “the world’s first software portfolio designed specifically for grid orchestration, adding new capabilities for connecting systems and integrating data across the grid more easily and at scale”.

The financial terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

The Greenbird acquisition is hoped to expand the capabilities of GE Vernova’s data fabric, eliminating data silos to make it faster and easier to connect and aggregate energy data, reducing the time and expense of data integration projects.

Responding to Smart Energy International was Frederik ten Sythoff, Greenbird VP of communication and marketing, who commented on the company’s outlook after the successful acquisition:

“As a company, we are proud that we have contributed with our thought leadership to highlight the importance for utilities to move into a data-driven future and with our technology to simplify this transition for them.

“We see the challenges in the industry are getting bigger and bigger. We need a much bigger focus and bigger solutions to make an impact. We’re using data to accelerate the industry and world to sustainable energy.

“GE Vernova has a legacy and proven track record to address these unique challenges we are facing in the energy sector. The acquisition is a strong signal and commitment to utilities, partners, and the industry of the strength of GridOS and the important role it’ll play in accelerating a more sustainable energy grid.”

Read more

Chameleon Tech’s 10 millionth IHD and significant growth

UK-based smart energy technology business Chameleon Technology has announced the manufacturing and delivery of its 10 millionth in-home display (IHD), a record they state for the industry, enabling insights into energy consumption for consumers through “visible, transparent, real-time data” they state in a release.

The IHDs connect to energy providers’ smart meters to help consumers track their energy use and costs. By the end of the UK smart meter rollout, two in every three homes are projected to have a Chameleon Technology IHD, according to the company.

The announcement of the milestone was followed by the opening of new offices for the clean tech company in the UK, after being awarded over £3.6 million ($4.6 million) in government funding for additional projects, including the Green Home Finance Accelerator (GHFA).

The GHFA aims to make available innovation funding for the development of green finance products which can enable the uptake of home energy efficiency, low carbon heating and micro-generation retrofit measures in the UK.

Through their award, Chameleon Technology’s HTC-UP project will aim to help domestic homeowners looking to improve their home’s energy efficiency, with initial support tailored to the needs of landlords.

The funding will be used to assess the viability of a “one-stop-shop for energy efficiency improvements” they state, from initial assessment to financing.

Heat Transfer Co-efficient (HTC) technology will be used to provide homeowners with an accurate measurement of a property’s energy efficiency rather than having to rely on the survey-based method used to produce current EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) ratings.

The HTC algorithm takes smart meter data and internal temperature readings, collected through the ivie Bud in-home display, and combines these with external temperature readings gained from third party weather data.

This combination of data is hoped to create a much more accurate measurement of how much heat is escaping the home, leading to a more precise carbon-efficiency score for the property.

What are your thoughts about the financial insecurities that come with investments in new technologies?

Let me know and make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances for the latest finance and investment news coming out of the energy sector.

Cheers,
Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

Follow me on LinkedIn

And with the UK government aiming to generate 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, I believe the sector’s technology needs to undergo significant modernisation efforts if it’s to adequately support the rollout of sustainable energy solutions.

By Stephen Magennis, Head of Energy & Utilities, EU at Expleo

It’s a sentiment that resonates across the industry. For instance, our recent Business Transformation Index research found half of energy business leaders believe digital transformation is crucial for enhancing access to affordable power amid our current energy crisis.

However, the research also revealed that E&U organisations face several key barriers to adopting transformative technologies, such as technology immaturity, exposure to cybersecurity risks, and the skills gap. In this piece, I’ll explore these challenges and discuss how they can be overcome.

Technology as a vehicle for change

Over the past few years, the energy sector has demonstrated that technology can be a driver of sustainable change. This is exemplified in the numerous eco-friendly breakthroughs we’ve seen – from industrial heat pumps to solar powered trains.

In a sector that has traditionally been difficult to digitalise, the rate of transformation is picking up pace, a trend I expect to continue. For example, energy leaders now see the modernisation of data management as a key business priority. With its potential to provide flexibility, balance demand for intermittent renewables and drive efficiencies for suppliers, the benefits of accurate real-time data are evident.

On the infrastructure side, modernising data management can help facilitate the roll-out of smart grids to deliver data-driven operations, and enable better decision-making, predictive maintenance, and energy distribution. This translates to a more reliable and resilient system as E&U decision-makers utilise real-time data to improve planning and efficiency.

However, despite all this progress, nearly half (44%) of energy business leaders believe they will miss deadlines to deliver digital change in 2023 – up from 17% in 2022.

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The barriers to digital transformation

Among our clients, we’re seeing resources and attention being diverted towards the effects of the energy crisis. It has heavily interrupted the delivery of transformation projects, including efforts to decarbonise or pivot away from hydrocarbons.

For instance, energy sector business transformation plans are still being hampered by the immaturity of certain key technologies, such as batteries, energy storage and carbon capture solutions. And the volatile investment climate and uncertainty around government support for these technologies in some markets is only exacerbating the issue.

Cybersecurity is also causing concern, with 65% of energy leaders expect their organisations to be victims of cyber-attack or data breaches in the next 12 months. There appears to be greater awareness around critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and the risk of attacks from cyber criminals, but there are still defensive gaps that need to be plugged.

Finally, 83% of leaders agree they’ve under-invested in the technological skills base of their employees. This has hindered transformation plans, as skilled professionals are integral to rolling out new technology across an organisation.

Looking to the future

For E&U companies, the focus must be on overcoming these barriers to technology deployment whilst addressing the sustainability agenda.

It starts with a focus on modernising technology they use, so they’re able to maintain accurate and up-to-date data. With existing operational models relying heavily on legacy systems and complex assets, it’s re-assuring that data management, quality, and governance are energy leaders’ top priorities.

At the heart of this solution lies talent. Addressing the sector’s skills gaps will require both internal training and external support to equip workforces with digital skills and encourage innovation. To ease the pressure in the short term, businesses can look to increase engagement with temporary or contractual labour who are experienced in the adoption of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

And it should all be underpinned by a robust cybersecurity strategy. When working to modernise their technology infrastructure, businesses must create and maintain robust cybersecurity measures such as regular vulnerability assessments, strong encryption, and continuous threat monitoring. Energy organisations should also focus on implementing employee cyber awareness and best practice.

Overall, these technological challenges need to be overcome quickly to develop solutions that benefit consumers and meet net-zero targets. Because if these issues can be addressed, businesses will also improve their operational resilience as they will have clearer understanding of their vulnerabilities. As such, they’ll be more adept at plugging these holes and better optimise their operational functions – significantly increasing their competitive advantage in the process.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen Magennis has been managing director and head of energy & utilities, EU at Expleo since 2019.

Kaluza heads ‘down under’

UK headquartered energy software company Kaluza is planning to expand its activities in Australia and New Zealand with an office in Melbourne led up by former London-based client solutions director, Conor Maher-McWilliams.

Over the next 12 months, Kaluza intends to build a local team of experts to support activity in the region.

The team will work closely with Kaluza customer AGL Energy, one of Australia’s largest energy retailers and generators, on the ‘OVO Energy Australia’ joint venture to accelerate the adoption of clean energy solutions across the country and develop new EV and solar propositions for AGL’s customers.

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Kaluza is also expanding its managed charging programme to New Zealand with Meridian Energy. Through this new service, Kaluza will manage the charging of Meridian Energy’s customers’ EVs in response to their needs as well as market signals and pricing data.

Scott Neuman, CEO of Kaluza, described the development as “an important milestone” for the company’s global expansion, which so far has extended to Europe, North America and Japan.

Training for the energy transition

Britain’s Heriot-Watt University, known for its technical training, is launching a new Master of Science degree programme to provide advanced training in the energy transition.

The programme, run from the University’s Orkney campus, is taught both in person and online, with a focus on the technologies, systems, processes and economics, alongside the design of transition projects to move away from fossil fuels and accelerate the integration of renewable energy.

The MSc in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition, to give its full title, has been developed by the mechanical and energy systems engineer Susan Krumdieck and is built around the rapidly growing discipline of ‘transition engineering’, an interdisciplinary approach to change for unsustainable systems across power, transport, industry, real estate and other sectors, according to a statement.

Krumdieck, who hails originally from New Zealand, is Chair of Energy Transition Engineering at Heriot-Watt and her research group has led the development of ‘transition engineering’ as a discipline since the early 2000s.

“If the world is to decarbonise and reach net zero emissions by 2050, whole systems will have to be redesigned and redeveloped, including energy infrastructure, technology, regulation and markets,” she commented.

“A new generation of transition engineering specialists is needed to drive this change – and our MSc ReSET is firmly focused on helping students and professionals develop these vital skills – so they can help to reset global energy systems.”

The MSc programme has four themes: Transition Engineering, Economics and Commercialisation, Renewable Energy Technology and Energy Systems.

Hydrogen trains – before their time?

Germany has been a pioneer with hydrogen-powered trains over the past five years and the rail operator Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG) was the first, a year ago, to launch a network of such trains using Alstom’s Coradia iLint rolling stock.

But now the company has decided that its future – at least for the next generation – is with battery-powered trains, citing their cheaper operating costs.

LNVG is now planning to obtain 102 new units with battery-powered technology, which will progressively replace its diesel rolling stock from 2029 onwards until the last diesel is withdrawn in 2037.

Hydrogen has been billed as the option for emission-free trains on lines that have not been electrified. However, an advantage of the battery-powered trains is that they can run on both electrified lines, drawing on the power and recharging batteries via the pantograph, and non-electrified lines using the battery power with charging from purpose-built charging islands.

LNVG has not specified what the cost differences are or where they arise. But like hydrogen for road transport, undoubtedly the ‘chicken and egg’ of infrastructure availability vs demand is likely to be a factor.

With hydrogen-powered trains under test in other locations such as Canada, their potential is very much a space to watch.

Namely, a new battery energy storage fund has been announced in the US, which will be used to establish multi-year offtake contracts for asset owners in Texas and California.

And in Europe, TenneT and Alliander have announced their H1 results, both citing the grid as a key investment theme.

Energy Storage Fund

Gridmatic, a US-based power marketer, has launched its first Energy Storage Fund.

They will use the $50 million fund to oversee the management of up to 500MW of battery capacity in the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) and CAISO (California Independent System Operator) markets.

The fund is divided into two tranches, with the initial one successfully completed through a $24.95 million investment from an energy investor.

Using the fund, Gridmatic will establish multi-year offtake contracts with asset owners to operate energy storage using its AI algorithms.

Gridmatic has already begun operating a 50MW/100MWh battery storage system in Texas using the fund.

Announcing the release, Gridmatic cites its ability to ensure secured revenue streams for developers’ projects through offtake agreements, enabling them to obtain necessary financing.

This, in turn, empowers storage developers to recycle their capital into the development of additional storage systems.

Gridmatic is then able to maximise the returns of the contracted storage systems via its AI-enabled optimisation, they state.

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The company references their storage report, showcasing a 46% increase in revenues when back-tested against actual results for storage systems in the ERCOT market in 2022.

“By decoupling project development and active management of the batteries, this structure derisks the operational phase of a project for storage owners and supports the growth of the energy storage industry,” states the company in a release.

The fund is also hoped to open a new asset class for investors, with the sector’s growth set to be further accelerated by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The fund is proof that new kinds of investment opportunities are on the rise as the battery energy storage market is maturing. This is fuelled by extreme market volatility due to the growth of renewables and extreme weather and an increased need for grid stability.

Grid investment driving H1 results

After the first six months of 2023, companies and utilities have been releasing their quarterly and half-yearly results to demonstrate their successes or disappointments.

H1 results from TenneT and Alliander in particular are of interest, as they show the allocation of funds into grid systems. TenneT has been heavily investing in the grid to ensure security of renewable supply in the wake of the war in Ukraine, while Alliander has been reinforcing power lines as the grid continues to falter.

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TenneT

In the first half of 2023, TenneT invested €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) in grid expansion and replacement, almost double the investment they made for the same period last year.

The Dutch-German TSO’s underlying EBIT increased by €351 million ($387.5 million) to €930 million ($1 billion).

In announcing the results, TenneT is calling the first half of 2023 “marked by solutions and partnerships for the medium and long term economies of scale.”

TenneT’s ‘economies of scale’ is reference to completion of large and long-term framework agreements to develop high-voltage infrastructure, including framework contracts for 14 grid connection systems, each with 2GW capacity and valuing a total of more than €40 billion ($44.2 billion).

Stated TenneT CEO Manon van Beek: “The huge grid expansion and maintenance task we carry out for the energy transition does not take place overnight. With our hundreds of projects, both onshore and offshore, now and over the next two decades, we are realising the electricity system of the future with a clear end picture in mind: Target Grid 2045.

“Achieving economies of scale, innovating together with the market, international cooperation and timely and governmental supported long-term infrastructure planning are key in making a carbon-neutral energy system feasible and affordable for households, industries, suppliers and TenneT itself.”

Alliander

The first half of 2023 saw network company Alliander invest €60 million ($66.2 million) more into expanding and maintaining the gas and electricity network than in the same period last year.

However, despite the significant investment figure, the company has also stated how “it is impossible to keep up with the pace of the energy transition” calling on companies for flexible use of the electricity grid to relieve congestion pressure as the Netherlands continues to experience bottlenecks.

Alliander’s net result in the first half of 2023 amounted to €109 million ($120.3 million), €2 million ($2.2 million) higher than last year. Operating income for the first six months increased by €275 million ($303.6 million) to €1.37 billion ($1.51 billion).

However, total operating expenses increased by €258 million ($284.9 million) in the past six months, mainly due to higher costs for grid losses because of rising energy prices. Operating costs also rose due to rising purchasing costs at TenneT.

In the first half of 2023, 595 new transformer houses were built with 1,084km more cable laid than in the first half of 2022 (918km).

Are your investments plans guided by the need to expand and secure a reliable grid? Let me know.

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Yusuf Latief
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Smart Energy International

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However, writes Alan Greenshields, director of ESS Inc, as this transition accelerates it is broadly recognized that challenges associated with connecting wind, solar and battery technologies to the grid present significant impediments to achieving global climate and clean energy goals.

Understanding and overcoming these impediments will be critical if net zero targets are to be achieved. 

The energy epiphany

The war in Ukraine destabilised global energy markets and led to significant cost increases across Europe and worldwide, shocking the Western world into the realisation that the slow transition from fossil to renewable energy needs to accelerate significantly.

The epiphany has come with an understanding that this will require substantial investments in infrastructure as we transition the grid from big, centralised fossil power plants to distributed renewable infrastructure.

To deliver the transition, the US has passed the $370 billion Inflation Reduction Act, the EU is set to match the US with its Green Deal, and the UK has deployed a new Security Energy Strategy with promises to go further.

Beyond funding, a number of regulatory hurdles remain to realizing the potential benefits of these ambitious programs.

The UK strategy was announced in April 2022 and promised to slash through red tape so that solar, wind and battery infrastructure can be deployed and renewable goals met. One year later, reports by the Financial Times and others are documenting the ongoing challenges posed by interconnect issues, posing a significant barrier.

These issues have led to a queue for renewable deployments that can involve a 15 year wait in the UK to connect new renewable power projects to the grid. These delays pose severe headwinds to Britain’s ambitious decarbonization targets.

The challenge primarily lies in an outdated grid and an outdated bureaucracy. The UK’s National Grid, with its architecture designed for a small number of large fossil fuel generators, has historically had 40-50 applications for connections a year.

With the increase in new renewable projects, this has risen to about 400 a year, representing ~234GW of renewable energy waiting to be connected to the grid.

Grid infrastructure has not kept pace with the rapid growth in renewable projects. One way to accelerate renewable deployment while enabling grid upgrades will be to prioritize new projects that include long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies. These projects can ease transmission congestion by storing excess energy during periods of over-generation and deploying it when needed.

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Overcoming the connection queue

Addressing a multifaceted problem will require multifaceted solutions.

First, clearly the bureaucracy that manages grid interconnections to evaluate and approve new applications needs reform to keep pace with the volume of requests.

A predominantly renewable grid will look different than the fossil-based system upon which we have relied to date, and our regulators must enable, not hinder, that transition.

In the short term, one potential reform that could accelerate approvals would be to prioritize project viability instead of simply “first come, first served” when evaluating proposed projects. This can lead to nonviable projects wasting limited public resources despite the fact that they are unlikely to ever be built at the expense of viable projects that could move forward quickly.

For example, the initial application doesn’t require a letter of authority for a parcel of land. Projects without a clear claim to a specific physical location can hold up projects on which construction could begin immediately.

Delays are worsened by other administrative issues, such as demands for cumbersome environmental assessments for each project, and the increasing cost of booking grid capacity in advance. In fact, a grid connection tied to a piece of land could be worth more than £1 million ($1.3 million).

The National Grid has addressed this issue in a recently published report saying it is carrying out “a major programme of reform to redesign the existing connection process”, which includes ensuring inactive projects are not blocking the pipeline.

Hopefully, this makes a positive impact, but we still need to go a step further to address the backlog. A good starting point would be to update the regulatory regime and remove planning blockers as well as changing to a first ready, first serviced basis and making sure that companies that put in applications have viable projects. 

Allowing greater flow of electricity

Transmission system upgrades are also needed to expand the capacity of existing high-voltage transmission lines to allow greater flows of renewable electricity, carry electricity long distances and better connect regions and communities. This will ensure people can access power when they need it, providing affordable and abundant clean energy.

In the long term, upgrades are likely to require more cables, poles, wires, and transformers to transport electricity, skilled workers, investment, and specific materials, all of which will be in high demand as many countries are facing the same challenges at the same time.

Grid reform

The UK can’t continue to react to one electricity/energy crisis at a time until the growing complexity of the grid and its reliance on fossil fuels brings it to breaking point.

Instead, the government must proactively put measures in place to ensure the grid can harness and accelerate the amount of renewable energy needed to meet climate targets.

Fortunately, grid issues can be mitigated in the short term by deploying new energy storage technologies to support the accelerated deployment of renewables.

Battery storage enables energy from renewables to be stored and then discharged when customers need power most, even if the wind is not blowing and the sun isn’t shining.  By integrating storage both into the grid and giving priority to those new renewable projects with storage components, it will be possible to improve the flexibility of the grid while also reducing emissions.

By re-examining not only the procedures for project approval, but the components that make up the grid, it will still be possible for the UK to meet our ambitious climate and energy goals, accelerate renewable deployment and avoid further reliance upon natural gas. We just need to get the rules right and allow ourselves to fully take advantage of new innovations that are commercially available today.

Acoustic spalling – key to cheaper solar PV?

III-V solar cells grown out of periodic table groups III and V alloys such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) are the most efficient but also costly, which has limited their use to applications such as powering satellites in space.

But that may be about to change, according to US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers, who say that the application of sound waves in a new process called ‘acoustic spalling’ holds the potential for significantly reducing their manufacturing costs.

The key is the ability to repeatedly reuse the substrate upon which the cells are grown. Whereas existing technology uses a sacrificial etch layer, which allows a cell to be lifted off a GaAs substrate so that the substrate can be used again, the process is time consuming and leaves behind a residue that requires an expensive polishing step.

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In contrast, spalling, which uses sound waves to control the fracture, takes seconds, with the fracture within the substrate nearly parallel to its surface and allowing the cell to be easily removed, revealing a new, contaminant-free surface from within the substrate that does not require polishing.

“This is super promising for the substrate reuse,” said Kevin Schulte, a scientist in NREL’s High-Efficiency Crystalline PV group and lead author of the study.

“This alone will not make III-V solar cells cost-effective, but as part of this portfolio of research, we’re trying address cost from multiple different angles.”

The researchers were able to make a cell on a previously spalled substrate with an NREL-certified efficiency of 26.9% – similar to that from a new substrate.

However, additional research is needed to determine how many times the substrate can be reused after being subjected to acoustic spalling.

Quantum computing to advance fuel cells for e-mobility

Fuel cells are an emerging option for future mobility, with their competitiveness dependent on improving performance and reducing costs.

This in turn depends on a deeper understanding of the chemical processes involved but modelling is complex and challenging. Moreover, with the quantum properties of the chemical mechanisms involved, they are a good candidate for quantum computers – which is why the BMW Group and Airbus have teamed up with quantum technology company Quantinuum.

The three companies have now developed a hybrid quantum-classical workflow to speed up such research using quantum computers and have reported successfully modelling the oxygen reduction reaction, which converts hydrogen and oxygen into water and electricity in a fuel cell. It is relatively slow and requires a large amount of platinum catalyst, so there is great interest and value in better understanding the underlying mechanisms involved in the reaction.

Dr Peter Lehnert, vice-president, Research Technologies at BMW Group, says that circularity and sustainable mobility are putting us on the quest for new materials to create more efficient products and shape the future user experience.

“Being able to simulate material properties to relevant chemical accuracy with the benefits from the accelerating quantum computing hardware is giving us just the right tools for more speed in innovation for this decisive domain.”

The companies intend to investigate various industrial challenges and believe the approach could have wide ranging benefits, such as for metal-air batteries among others.

Toyota adapts fuel cell vehicle tech for the Moon

Toyota is working on a project to provide its regenerative fuel cell technology, evolved from that developed for its road vehicles, to power a pressurised lunar rover, nicknamed the ‘Lunar cruiser’.

A regenerative fuel cell is a system that provides both power and storage. During the day, powered by solar PV, the system would produce hydrogen and oxygen and then at night, this would be converted to provide power and water.

The system is considered ideal for lunar applications, drawing on local water ice resources but also enabling operations to continue during the long, 14-day lunar night.

Toyota is partnering on the initiative with Mitsubishi, which is working on the Lupex (lunar polar exploration) concept for an earlier phase rover to investigate inter alia the availability of usable water resources on the Moon.

Both initiatives are being undertaken for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which is contributing to NASA’s Artemis mission and is expected to supply the Lunar Cruiser for a 2029 launch date.

The Lunar Cruiser is being developed to normally carry a crew of two – four in a contingency or unmanned – and to have a life span of 10 years and a travel distance of 10,000km, with an off-road driving performance aimed to meet the varied environments on the Moon, including regolith and rocks and craters with their varying slopes.

Also on the radar are robust earnings from an Indian company for their shunt resistors, which they claim to be the “backbone of smart metering technology and energy management systems” as well as a raised Series B funding round for Electric Vehicle (EV) services provider ev.energy, which they will use for global expansion and new EV data-driven services.

Acquisition to bolster smart metering expertise

IMServ Europe, a UK-based energy data collection and metering specialist, has acquired Power Data Associates, a specialist meter administrator providing unmetered services to electricity, gas and water utilities and non-domestic energy customers.

IMServ is calling the acquisition an augmentation of their existing proposition in energy data collection, advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) and smart metering.

According to the company, unmetered supplies metering systems will be required to upgrade to half-hourly settlement as part of a forthcoming market-wide half-hourly settlement (MHHS) rules.

IMServ has already identified MHHS as a key strategic priority and aims to ease the transition for every sector of the market.\

The acquisition of Power Data Associates is hoped to enable this goal and allow customers with both metered and unmetered requirements to meet their needs ‘under one roof.’

IMServ will be the only company to offer the full range of MHHS services across the metered and unmetered data services segment.

Power Data Associates will continue to operate as a standalone company, with all current employees and senior leadership retained.

Power Data Associates specialises in providing services to help customers manage their unmetered energy usage. Key unmetered applications include street lighting, telecommunications infrastructure and, increasingly, electric vehicle (EV) charge points.

IMServ on the other hand is one of the UK’s leading meter operators and data collectors, servicing over 25% of the UK’s electricity consumption through the monitoring of 80 billion units of energy data.

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Robust earnings from smart meter shunt resistors

Indian manufacturer of bimetal/trimetal strips and shunt resistors Shivalik Bimetal Controls has announced robust financial performance for Q1 FY24.

The company reported operational revenue rise to Rs113.07 Crore ($13.7 million) signalling 15.74% YoY growth. According to CFO Rajeev Ranjan, this is “our highest quarterly number in history.”

The company is calling the financial growth reflective of the Indian and global shift towards electrification.

The Indian government’s RDSS scheme has been opening up significant revenue streams for smart metering projects in the aims of reducing aggregate transmission and commercial (AT&C) losses.

Stated the company’s chairman, S.S. Sandhu, “Our shunt resistors are part of the backbone of smart metering technology and energy management systems, providing the precision and reliability required for efficient energy usage.

“As India accelerates its smart meter deployment to achieve electrical energy security, we are proud to be a key player in providing critical components, contributing to the country’s electrification renaissance.”

Shivalik Bimetal Controls was founded in 1984 and is headquartered out of New Delhi. It manufactures and sells thermostatic bimetal/trimetal strips for switching components used in electrical, electronics, automotive, agricultural, medical, defence and industrial applications.

The rising demand for switchgear, battery management and smart metering systems, they state, conveys solid long-term prospects for their product lines.

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ev.energy enters grid services with successful financing

ev.energy, an EV charging software platform, has received a $33 million Series B raise, bringing total funded capital to $46M.

ev.energy connects EVs to grid networks, intelligently managing charging for more than 120,000 EVs daily by charging vehicles at grid-friendly times and connecting them to the company’s virtual power plant (VPP).

This latest funding round provides a pathway for ev.energy to access an additional 400 million energy customers by utilising their shareholders’ energy retail, fleet, vehicle and insurance networks.

The funding round was led by National Grid Partners (NGP) with support from Aviva Ventures, WEX Venture Capital and InMotion Ventures, with continued support from existing investors Energy Impact Partners (EIP), Future Energy Ventures (FEV) and ArcTern Ventures.

The funding will also enable ev.energy to expand its global operations while building on its growth across the US and UK.

Since 2018, ev.energy has won over 30 national, regional and municipal utility contracts while developing partnerships with charging brands and auto original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like the Volkswagen Group.

In announcing the funding, the company cites their offering of moving, storing and discharging energy for megawatts in flexible capacity as a crucial service in a time when utilities in the US and Europe tackle extreme weather conditions, placing significant strain on the electricity grid system.

Bobby Kandaswamy, Senior Director of Pathfinding & Incubation Investments at National Grid Partners, commented, “ev.energy’s approach to providing a convenient, compelling experience for drivers to charge at home and on the road during grid-friendly times is essential for grid operators.

“Combined with its V2G services, ev.energy positions utilities like National Grid as an accelerant to the clean energy transition.” As part of NGP’s investment, Kandaswamy has joined the ev.energy board of directors.

ev.energy will also use these partnerships to co-create services that leverage vehicle data, deliver smart charging and, in the future, more fully develop bi-directional charging.

WEX Venture Capital’s investment will support the expansion of ev.energy’s solution to bring managed charging to fleet vehicles.

For the latest finance and investment news coming out of the energy industry, make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances Weekly.

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Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

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By John Kalthoff, Corteva Agriscience

Part of the issue at hand is driven by ecological and environmental factors. While earlier snowmelt and delayed rainfall have led to extended drought in recent years, tree mortality and the spread of invasive plants have provided more fuel sources for wildfires.

But what’s igniting wildfires in the first place? Although unattended campfires, acts of arson, and lightning are common culprits, a recent five-year study conducted by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention found that electrical power causes nearly 10% of wildfires annually.

In addition to posing a threat to electrical transmission reliability, fallen trees can impact energized conductors and lead to downed powerlines, both of which can ignite wildfires. To make matters worse, woody plants and other brush species can be ladder fuels, which carry low-burning wildfires to taller vegetation. These issues alone give utility vegetation managers reason to prioritise brush control as part of their annual right-of-way (ROW) management programmes. However, industry research has shown that not all brush control strategies deliver the same results.

Considerations for Brush Control

The best way for electric utilities to reduce wildfire risks is to selectively control incompatible trees and brush species throughout their right-of-way corridors. This selectivity is crucial, as it allows vegetation managers to eliminate threats to utility infrastructure without causing harm to desirable plant species that strengthen wildfire mitigation programmes.

Despite the benefits selective control strategies can provide, some electric utilities still use mechanical mowing practices to manage incompatible plant species. As a nonselective approach to vegetation control, exclusive mowing practices decimate all plant species, stimulating costly regrowth and spreading incompatible seeds along the way.

Fortunately, utility vegetation managers can use Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) strategies to avoid these detrimental issues. That’s because IVM programmes, using industry best management practices, complement mechanical and biological control methods with targeted applications of selective herbicides, which strengthen woody plant management and minimize off-target control issues. As a result, industry practitioners can successfully yield landscapes that are compatible with not only utility infrastructure but also wildfire mitigation programmes.

Supported by Environmental ROW Research

Findings generated by the State Game Lands 33 (SGL 33) research project in central Pennsylvania, which has analysed the ecological impact of different vegetation control methods since the early 1950s, have indicated the benefits of using IVM strategies to manage incompatible plant species throughout utility rights-of-way. For example, when SGL 33 researchers with Pennsylvania State University recently tested five common control methods on 2.5 to 3-acre plots to determine which strategies best support the establishment of tree-resistant cover types throughout utility rights-of-way, selective applications of nonselective herbicide chemistries yielded the most promising results.

Each plot included a 95-foot wire zone and 30-foot border zone on each side of the transmission line corridor. In addition to hand-cutting and mechanical mowing practices, three herbicide-based control methods were tested:

• High-volume foliar
• Low-volume foliar
• Low-volume basal

Three years after treatment, SGL 33 data showed that low-volume and high-volume foliar herbicide applications predominately yielded lower incompatible stem densities in the wire zone and border zone than their mechanical counterparts. (See Graph 1)

Lower stem counts were observed on plots treated with low-volume basal applications. It’s worth noting that no incompatible trees were recorded in the wire zone of one of the plots treated with a low-volume basal application, and a second low-volume basal plot yielded stem counts lower than mechanically treated sites.

“Reducing incompatible stem counts throughout utility rights-of-way provides multiple benefits to electric utilities and their vegetation management partners,” said Jerome Otto, market development specialist, Corteva Agriscience. “You’re not only enhancing electrical service reliability by protecting utility infrastructure; you’re also achieving results that can help safeguard adjacent communities from the devastating effects of wildfires.”

As a longtime funding partner of SGL 33, Corteva Agriscience shares findings from the long-standing environmental research study to help industry partners understand how different vegetation control strategies can help them improve cost-efficiency, enhance environmental sustainability and reduce the risk of wildfire. As far as the brand’s industry experts are concerned, electric utilities and their vegetation management partners have a significant opportunity to achieve these benefits through IVM, especially if they prioritise selectivity.

“SGL 33 research has indicated the benefits of integrating various herbicide applications as part of an IVM-based approach,” said Darrell Russell, market development specialist, Corteva Agriscience. “Industry practitioners can further enhance these positive results and reduce incompatible stem counts by selectively treating targeted vegetation with selective herbicide chemistries. By only controlling plant species that represent the greatest threats, vegetation managers can help beneficial plant communities thrive, which positively impacts right-of-way management programmes, the environment, and surrounding communities.”

In addition to reducing incompatible stem densities — which eliminates flammable trees and creates ample spacing between less flammable plant species — targeted applications of selective chemistries can complement IVM-based programmes by supporting the development of beneficial grasses and forbs. In turn, these low-growing plant communities yield multiple benefits for ROW management and wildfire mitigation programmes, including:

Fewer ladder fuels

High-risk fire areas are often riddled with numerous ladder fuels, such as low-lying trees and brush species. By supplementing mechanical and biological control methods with selective applications of selective herbicide chemistries, IVM programmes can prevent the establishment and growth of ladder fuels, which reduces the risk of flames reaching canopy heights.

Fuel break establishment

Selective herbicide treatments can help vegetation managers establish fuel breaks throughout utility rights-of-way, which can impede the spread of wildfire. Starting in the wire zone, vegetation managers can use herbicide treatments to control trees and other forms of tall-growing plant species to help establish fuel breaks composed of grasses, herbs and small shrubs. These low-growing plant communities reduce the risk of power line interference and inhibit flames from spreading, which allows firefighters to suppress the flames more safely and effectively.

Reduced maintenance input costs

Put simply, using IVM practices to reduce the amount of incompatible stems and ladder fuels throughout utility ROW can effectively lower maintenance costs over time. With less vegetation to maintain, industry practitioners can reallocate resources to at-risk sites or other programme needs. 

Biodiverse habitat support

By supporting the development of beneficial grasses and forbs, IVM programmes also enhance habitat biodiversity for bees, butterflies and a variety of other native wildlife species. Intentionally managing both compatible and incompatible vegetation also can qualify IVM programmes for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting when associated practices prove to yield no net loss or net positive impact on biodiversity.

Partnership Opportunities

Electric utilities aren’t the only entities that can positively impact wildfire mitigation efforts. While foresters and federal agencies can complete fuel-reduction projects to support timber harvest plans, city and state agencies can establish fuel breaks along roadsides to improve transportation routes during wildfires and related emergencies. State and national parks also can remove dead and hazardous trees to reduce the amount of flammable vegetation throughout at-risk areas.

“We’ve seen electric utilities assist private companies and federal agencies with logging activities near their right-of-way corridors,” Otto said. “This work includes the removal of controlled trees that otherwise interfere with line-clearance requirements. Instead of increasing fuel loads by leaving that brush on site, some entities use chippers to manually broadcast woody plants at lower levels throughout previously treated areas.”

Put simply, building relationships and effectively communicating with like-minded entities can help utility vegetation managers synchronize their treatment cycles, enhance fuel break establishment and mitigate wildfire risks throughout ROW corridors and adjacent land. While some landowners are skeptical of certain IVM practices, including herbicide applications, this cooperative support can improve public perception concerning best practices for wildfire mitigation efforts.

“We care for the land as much as the people who live on or adjacent to it,” Otto said. “The more vegetation managers and their industry partners can educate landowners on the benefits and objectives IVM-based strategies achieve, the more we’ll be able to drive communal understanding. What’s good for utility infrastructure also can be good for the land and surrounding communities. We’re working to spread that message far and wide.”

Originally published on Power Grid International.

About the Author

John Kalthoff is a portfolio marketing lead with Corteva Agriscience. In his role, he leverages more than 30 years of experience to provide product marketing leadership for the U.S. Land Management (non-crop vegetation management) business. He is based out of Indianapolis, IN.

Energy metaverse – the building blocks securely in place

The metaverse may seem very conceptual to many at this stage but it is coming in the energy sector – and coming big, according to a new report from Guidehouse Insights, which estimates that over the next decade global investment in core technologies will grow from just over $6 billion in 2022 to nearly $80 billion in 2031 – a compound annual growth rate of no less than 33%.

Core energy metaverse technologies include digital twins, AI and machine learning, unmanned aerial systems and drones, extended reality and blockchain-based applications.

“When the energy metaverse is fully realised – admittedly more than a decade away – utilities and O&G concerns can envision a day when employee onboarding and training take place via XR in a metaverse-based training centre,” says Richelle Elberg, principal research analyst with Guidehouse Insights.

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“Much like it was difficult in the early 1990s to imagine all the ways a smartphone or the internet would change how business is conducted, in 2023 it can be hard to see just how radically metaverse technology stands to change the operating dynamics of energy industry verticals.”

Potential examples cited by Guidehouse include utility storefronts in metaverse malls that could provide virtual customers with real-world benefits such as product comparisons and purchasing, energy use analysis and evaluation of a premises’ suitability for solar.

In-demand specialised experts in a field could work on a virtual offshore rig, advising onsite workers how to address a problem. And drones could conduct ongoing inspections of critical assets, feeding real-time data into digital twins equipped with advanced AI to predict and prevent wildfires or methane emissions.

Flexible solar panels coming to market

Solar panels only a few millimetres thick that are claimed integrable on all kinds of surfaces are about to become available from the Belgian startup EnFoil (derived from ‘Energy enabling foil’).

The panels, which are based on copper-indium-gallium-selenium technology, are the outcome of years of research by the Hasselt University and microelectronics research organisation imec within the Energyville collaboration, with EnFoil a spin-off from the two organisations.

Potential applications range from buildings to tents and swimming pool covers, with what is said a pliable but robust format manufacturable in all shapes and sizes and offering greater flexibility than the current mostly flat and predetermined size formats.

“As a result, the technology was mainly limited to exclusive construction projects or as an expensive extra option for the roof of your car. With Enfoil, we are changing this,” says Marc Meuris, CTO.

He adds that talks with industry to bring EnFoil’s solar films to market are “in full swing”, with the current focus mainly on the logistics sector, where the proposal is to integrate the materials on the roofs and sidewalls of trucks to power their sensors and track and trace systems.

An edible rechargeable battery

Children’s toys, gastrointestinal tract disease diagnosis and treatment and food quality monitoring are considered some potential areas where edible electronics would be of interest.

As a step towards this researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology have created a first totally edible and rechargeable battery.

With inspiration from the biochemical redox reactions that happen in the body and materials consumed as part of the daily diet, the battery utilises riboflavin or vitamin B2 as anode and the plant pigment quercetin as cathode, along with activated charcoal to increase the electrical conductivity and a water-based electrolyte.

The separator was made from nori seaweed, the kind found in sushi.

Then, electrodes were encapsulated in beeswax from which two food-grade gold contacts – the foil used by pastry chefs – on a cellulose derived support come out.

The battery cell operates at 0.65V, a voltage low enough not to create problems in the human body when ingested, and can provide current of 48μA for 12 minutes or a few microamps for more than an hour – enough to supply power to small electronic devices, such as low power LEDs, for a limited time.

Ivan Ilic, who co-authored the study, said the edible battery is also very interesting for the energy storage community.

“Building safer batteries, without usage of toxic materials, is a challenge we face as battery demand soars. While our edible batteries won’t power electric cars, they are a proof that batteries can be made from safer materials than current Li-ion batteries. We believe they will inspire other scientists to build safer batteries for a truly sustainable future.”

Also on the radar are announcements of a ‘resilient’ business model based on smart meter-generated revenue for Smart Metering Systems (SMS), growth financing for a smart meter data analysis provider and a €3 billion ($3.9 billion) scheme for cleantech companies in Germany.

AMI provider Ubiik acquires Mimomax Wireless

Taiwan-based Ubiik, an IoT and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) provider, has acquired New Zealand-based Mimomax Wireless, a provider of communication solutions for narrowband channels.

The acquisition is being touted as an acceleration of Ubiik’s market expansion.

The new combined entity, which has not yet been named, aims to bring new wireless solutions to market, providing communications for utilities and critical infrastructure.

According to the Taiwanese provider, their current business is on track to exceed 1 million AMI device deployments by 2024, citing the “coverage limitations of existing public LTE networks that impede utilities’ AMI deployments” as the prime challenge they seek a solution towards, the company stated in a joint press release announcing the acquisition.

Since 2007, Mimomax Wireless established itself as a manufacturer of radios utilising Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) technology.

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The Kiwi company caters to utilities, stakeholders within the energy sectors and governments among others. Their communications solutions, states Mimomax, optimises data throughput and enables near-real-time visibility of critical assets.

Commenting on the announcement was Tienhaw Peng, founder and CEO of Ubiik, who stated how the acquisition “injects additional momentum into our collective growth. In tandem, we’re poised to boost the performance, security and cost-effectiveness of critical networks.”

Ubiik states how the merger will allow for an array of new solutions for mission and business-critical communications. For example, existing US utility customers who have deployed Mimomax products in the narrowband 700MHz Upper Block A can now leverage their spectrum acquisition by adding Ubiik’s goRAN NB-IoT Band 103 as a retrofit.

This opportunity, adds the AMI provider, offers the ability to connect smart meters and IoT devices for “a fraction of the cost of deploying new pLTE infrastructure”.

SMS’s ‘resilient’ smart metering business model

Glasgow-based smart meter and carbon reduction asset developer Smart Metering Systems (SMS) has, within its H1 2023 trading update and outlook report, reported 13.3% revenue growth.

Specifically, the Scottish clean tech company’s Index-linked Annualised Recurring Revenue (ILARR), a referral to revenue generated from meter rental and data contracts, grew from £97.1 million ($125.4 million) at the close of December 2022 to £110 million ($142 million) as of June 30, 2023.

The company’s CEO, Tim Mortlock, commented on the growth, citing the ‘resilience’ of their model:

“We have delivered another strong operational and financial performance during H1 2023, a testament to the resilient nature of our business model which is underpinned by our index-linked recurring revenues.

“Our existing pipeline of meter and grid-scale battery assets is expected to more than double the Group’s EBITDA in c.4 years compared to FY 2022, with significant additional growth opportunities in existing and developing CaRe assets.”

Within the first half of 2023, the company SMS installed 220,000 smart meters and has maintained market share of 14%.

According to the report, their engineering capacity delivered higher volumes of activity, largely driven by transactional callout services alongside a higher proportion of single fuel installations.

The Group also increased its engineering capacity and expects meter installation run-rate to accelerate as a result.

When it comes to financing, the Group claims its current pipeline of smart meters and grid-scale batteries can be fully funded from asset-backed, internally-generated cash flows and debt facilities.

The Group is also considering asset recycling to maintain a “prudent level of gearing in the medium term and to support future growth”, they state in the release.

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Expansion financing for a smart meter data analysis provider

CIBC Innovation Banking has increased its growth financing commitment to Bidgely, a provider of AI-powered energy intelligence solutions for energy providers worldwide.

The additional financing commitment of $18 million – 2020 saw Bidgely secure $8 million from the same company – will strengthen Bidgely’s ability to support critical utility initiatives, namely within the EV and grid modernisation markets.

Bidgely’s UtilityAI analyses smart meter data to provide appliance-level insights into daily energy consumption, giving utilities insights into energy usage patterns and anticipated grid loads.

Bidgely touts its platform’s ability to coordinate accurate grid planning and load forecasting, together with the ability to better manage the influx of EVs on the grid through optimised time of use, load shifting and managed charging.

“Utilities around the world rely on Bidgely’s artificial intelligence-powered energy solution to guide their clients to smart energy decisions,” said Amy Olah, managing director of CIBC Innovation Banking. “Our continued support speaks to Bidgely’s success and our commitment to back innovative software companies across North America throughout their growth journey.”

€3bn for German low-carbon tech – batteries, heat pumps and more

The European Commission has approved a €3 billion ($3.9bn) German scheme under the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework to support private investments in low-carbon assets for the country’s transition to net zero.

The scheme, touted as in line with the tenets of the proposed Green Deal Industrial Plan, will take the form of direct grants, tax advantages, subsidised interest rates and guarantees on new loans for companies producing low-carbon technologies.

Said companies will include those with business in battery energy storage, heat pumps, electrolysers, wind turbines, solar panel, CCUS and key components needed to produce such tech or related critical raw materials necessary for their production.

The aid will be meted out by 31 December 2025.

For the latest finance and investment news coming out of the energy sector, make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances Weekly.

Cheers,
Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

Follow me on LinkedIn

The energy transition is bringing profound changes across the sector and not least to the networks, with the need for their significant expansion for large-scale electrification and clean energy integration coupled with the universal adoption of digital smart grid technologies towards 2050.

With this in mind ISGAN, in partnership with IRENA and a group of experts from across the sector from 12 countries, has undertaken an evaluation of grid planning practices with the aim to cut through the complexities and uncertainties for policy makers and sector stakeholders.

“Overcoming these different complexities and uncertainties necessitates planning processes that are efficient, transparent, legitimate and guided by sound principles and effective steering mechanisms,” states ISGAN.

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Moreover, a key consideration was that the grid planning should align with and act as an enabler of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals of which the energy goal on access to clean and affordable energy is SDG 7.

Key recommendations of the policy brief for grid planning in uncertain times are as follows.

1. Cohesive scenarios, nationally and where possible regionally coordinated, should be developed that show the necessary electrification measures required to achieve net zero emissions.
2. Grid development plans should be ensured to enable deep decarbonisation in line with the developed scenarios, with political guidance likely to be necessary to balance conflicting goals between local and national levels as well as between economic, social and environmental considerations.
3. Cost-benefit analyses should be updated to properly capture the values of sufficient grid capacity and account for social, environmental and resilience metrics, based on a clear and transparent grid planning assessment framework.
4. Regulatory frameworks should be ensured to foster both conventional and smart grid solutions contributing to the clean energy transition. Tools such as regulatory sandboxes could be extensively used to support the deployment of innovative solutions.
5. Workforce strategies should be developed to recruit and train the skills to satisfy the short and long-term competence needs. These include policy and regulation, engineering, environmental impact assessment, behavioural sciences and urban and rural planning.
6. Stakeholder interactions between government, industry, research and other players including local communities should be promoted at all levels of the grid planning process.
7. Awareness and understanding of the role of the grid for meeting the SDGs should be increased, with clearer linkages of energy to supporting other goals such as poverty reduction and climate action.

The initiative was led by Helena Lindquist, director of the Swedish sustainability knowledge sharing company LightSwitch from ISGAN’s Communication working group, and Susanne Ackeby, an R&D engineer at the Swedish research institute RISE from ISGAN’s Power Transmission & Distribution Systems working group.

The UK has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, in accordance with its obligations under the Paris Agreement.

All eyes are on utilities providers as we transition to this net zero future, but it’s not as simple as flicking a switch and swapping to renewable energy generation.

Heat mapping

2022 was one of the hottest years on record in the UK, highlighting the effects of climate change on air temperature.

The UK is already leading the way in climate adaptation by using space data to monitor and understand the impact of climate change. For example, in a project backed by the UK Space Agency, Ordnance Survey is using satellite data to monitor and map heat in locations at greatest risk.

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Revealing locations that are at greater risk allows local governments to plan better and implement effective policies to deal with extreme weather events. Accurate location data can also be used to optimise tree planting and land management, ensuring that planning is resilient to future change.

In cities, heat mapping can be used to find heat islands. These spots, where land surface is densely covered with roads, pavement, buildings and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat, could benefit from building adaptation. For example, retrofitting green roofs and green spaces could be used for heat pumps and as low carbon heat sources.

Heat mapping can also be used to enable community-driven energy generation, where an entire city or municipality create micro energy grids, powered by solar panels or nearby wind farms to help reduce demand on the national grid and lower its carbon footprint.

Asset planning

By 2030, it’s estimated that there will be between eight million and eleven million hybrid and electric cars in the UK, requiring 300,000 charging points. With just 37,000 existing in 2023, it’s clear that work is required to build this infrastructure.

For example, the Department for Transport, in conjunction with the University of Exeter, undertook a study to estimate the proportion of properties in a certain area that could accommodate private electric vehicle charge points powered by the household. Using Ordnance Survey’s geospatial data, combined with other data sets, an algorithm was developed that could be used to classify residential dwellings as potential locations for private charge points.

As the number of electric vehicles on the road increases, data like this will prove to be vital.

Also, for public use chargers, it’s important to see additional data, like how many houses exist within a postcode and what the electricity supply in that area is like. This will allow chargers to be placed in the most efficient locations.

Avoiding strikes

Around four million kilometres of pipes, sewers and electricity and telecoms cables are buried underground in the UK, accounting for a significant proportion of the nation’s utility, building and transport infrastructure. It’s estimated that every seven seconds a hole is dug to access these assets for repairs, upgrades and new installations.

The vast amount of holes dug, coupled with the unreliability of underground asset location data, means that there are around 60,000 accidental strikes per year, leading to injury, project delays and disruption to traffic and local economies. The total cost of these accidental strikes is estimated to be around £2.4 billion (US$3 billion) every year.

The lack of a single source of location data for underground assets has had a huge impact on the number of strikes over the years. While location data exists, it’s siloed in separate private companies, with data sharing between them often slow and inefficient.

To help combat this, the UK Government has established a Geospatial Consortium, of which Ordnance Survey is a member. The consortium has been working for a number of years to build a National Underground Asset Register as a single, secure data-sharing service to record the location and characteristics of underground assets.

The register will provide workers with an interactive, standardised digital view of the underground assets in a given location, reducing the risk of accidental strikes and resultant delays, costs and disruption.

Better service

With energy bills higher than in previous years, it’s important for providers to be aware of customers that require additional support.

Ordnance Survey is participating in a pilot to overcome this called the Priority Services Register. The pilot brings together data from various utilities providers to build a master list of all residents in Great Britain that might require additional support from their providers.

Once the list is aggregated, it will be disseminated out to all of the utility providers involved so that they can understand which of their customers are vulnerable.

While utility providers will have some insight already, the Priority Services Register will help ensure that every resident is provided with the support that they need, especially as our reliance on fossil fuels reduces and the way that households receive energy changes.

Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 is key to protecting our planet for the future. Accurate location data clearly has a key role to play towards meeting the challenges of this energy transition.

Ordnance Survey, the UK’s national mapping service, is a leading geospatial organisation and experienced geospatial partner for the national government and others around the world.

Cybersecurity labelling introduced in US

A cybersecurity certification and labelling programme, the Cyber Trust Mark, has been launched in the US as a voluntary initiative for manufacturers to indicate the cyber worthiness of their devices.

The programme, which was proposed by the Federal Communications Commission, will be applicable to common devices such as smart refrigerators, smart microwaves, smart televisions, smart climate control systems, smart fitness trackers, etc.

Several major manufacturers and retailers have already made commitments to the programme, including Amazon, Best Buy, Google, LG Electronics, Logitech and Samsung.

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Under the proposed programme, which is expected to be up and running in 2024, consumers can expect to see a distinct shield logo applied to products meeting established cybersecurity criteria.

With this, they can then make informed decisions on the relative security of products they choose to purchase and retailers will be encouraged to prioritise labelled products on their shelves and online.

A national registry of certified devices with specific and comparable security information also is planned.

While cybersecurity certification schemes are not uncommon, the consumer labelling proposal appears to be a first and will likely be replicated for other smart devices and in other regions.

In parallel with the launch of the US Cyber Trust Mark programme the US Department of Energy announced an initiative to work with national labs and industry partners to research and develop cybersecurity labelling requirements for smart meters and power inverters as essential components of the smart grid.

Detecting EV charging vulnerabilities

Idaho National Laboratory intern Jake Guidry has developed a cybersecurity research tool that could improve the security of electric vehicle charging.

The AcCCS tool, a combination of hardware and software that emulates the electronic communications that occur between an EV and an extreme fast charger during the charging process, provides access capabilities through the CCS (combined charging system) communications protocol.

The AcCCS hardware includes a charging port and a charging cable, both of which can be plugged into real-world equipment.

No charging power flows through the device. If one plugs the AcCCS into an EV, the vehicle’s computer thinks the battery is receiving a charge. If the tool is plugged into a 350kW fast charging station, the station thinks it is charging an electric vehicle.

“It’s basically acting like one to trick the other,” says Guidry, a master’s degree student in mechanical engineering from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, who explains that with it not only can normal operations be skewed but also cyber attacks can be introduced.

In a demonstration, researchers used AcCCS to hack a charging station and a vehicle.

Future experiments should help them to develop best practice recommendations for the industry.

Vortex rings may speed nuclear fusion

Vortex rings – those rings of smoke that are the aspiration of novice cigarette smokers – may hold a key to advancing fusion energy as well as research on supernovae as the most explosive objects in the universe.

Nuclear fusion is the process of pushing atoms together until they merge. But part of the problem is that the fuel can’t be neatly compressed and instabilities cause the formation of jets that penetrate into the hotspot, with the fuel spurting out between them – similar to that of the juice of an orange that is squashed in a hand.

Modelling of the phenomenon by researchers at the University of Michigan has shown that the vortex rings that form at the leading edge of these jets are mathematically similar to smoke rings as well as the plasma rings that fly off the surface of a supernova.

Michael Wadas, a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, explains that in a supernova the vortex rings move outward from the collapsing start whereas in fusion it moves inward, disrupting the stability of the burning fuel and reducing the efficiency of the reaction.

With their findings, the researchers hope to be able to understand the limits of the energy that a vortex ring can carry, and how much fluid can be pushed before the flow becomes turbulent and harder to model as a result.

In ongoing work, the team is validating the vortex ring model with experiments.

Series A for autonomous EV charging

Rocsys, a developer of autonomous charging solutions for electric transportation, has announced a $36 million Series A funding round.

Rocsys combines soft robotics, AI-based computer vision and data-driven services to adapt existing chargers into an autonomous system that can plug in and out without manual intervention.

According to the Dutch company, the solution removes the risk of operator errors, ensures regulatory compliance and vehicle uptime and minimises damage and human exposure to high-voltage equipment.

They add how the solution works for consumer and fleet vehicles, including port equipment, industrial applications, heavy-duty and more.

Led by SEB Greentech Venture Capital, the round includes participation from Graduate Entrepreneur, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and returning investor Forward.One.

With the investment, which includes a roughly equal split of debt and equity financing, Rocsys will expand the capabilities of its platform as it scales up its presence in the US and Europe.

“There’s too much friction in the EV charging process today, creating needless barriers to sustainable transportation,” said Rocsys Co-founder and CEO Crijn Bouman.

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“That’s why we created a technology-agnostic solution that converts any charger into a fully automated experience, maximising the return on investment and sustainability impact of already-installed charging infrastructure. With this Series A funding, we’re bringing this breakthrough solution to more customers and industries worldwide.”

The capital infusion will support research and development into additional features for the platform, which include intelligent parking guidance, expanded software integrations for vehicle navigation and fleet management systems and additional remote diagnostics and teleoperations support.

Rocsys also plans to build out its North American division, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, to further support application engineering and customer service in the region while expanding local supply chain and manufacturing activities.

As part of the round, Rocsys welcomes four new members to its Board of Advisors, including Mikko Huumo of SEB, Frederik Gerner, and Jan Willem Friso of Forward.One, and new chairperson Dr Gregor Matthies.

Ireland’s GridBeyond acquires Veritone Inc Energy Business

Through an acquisition, Veritone Energy’s acumen and energy management solutions have been integrated into Irish tech developer GridBeyond.

California-based Veritone develops software that uses AI for energy forecasting, optimisation, and control, aiming to unlock the full potential of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) while enhancing reliability.

Dublin-headquartered GridBeyond, on the other hand, develops a technology platform that provides real-time optimisation of distributed assets across a range of industries and asset types.

The acquisition sees Veritone’s extensive portfolio of such AI-powered solutions integrated into the Irish business. It is also a strong growth signal for GridBeyond, expanding its capabilities in the US.

The combination of the two technologies will allow GridBeyond to offer more functionalities to its customers through a new design platform, which they describe as “an extremely accurate forecasting technology” in a press release announcing the acquisition.

One particular combination is that of Veritone’s aiWARE Enterprise platform, which utilises AI forecasting to boost profit from DERs, into GridBeyond’s virtual power plant (VPP) platform.

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Equity capital for a VPP

In the realm of VPPs, Leap, a software platform that aggregates DERs and connects them into VPPs, has secured a new capital raise totalling $12 million in equity financing.

The California-based company utilises customer meter points – to date connecting over 70,000 in the US – to facilitate automated access to energy markets.

Assets such as battery storage systems, EV charging points, smart thermostats, building management systems and other DERs are connected, with the aim of easing the process for technology providers and operators to earn revenue in demand response and other grid services programmes.

Leap co-founder and CEO Thomas Folker, commented on the successful finances: “With this new investment, we will continue to add high-value features to our platform, grow our network of technology partners and expand our value stack across geographies as we advance our mission to decarbonise the world’s electric grids.”

Earlier this year in April, the US-based VPP operator joined the Virtual Power Plant Alliance (VP3).

“Distributed energy resources are a growing priority for both consumers and utilities. With Leap’s unique ability to monetise all types of assets — from energy storage to electric vehicles to building management systems — it is a market maker in an increasingly crowded field,” said Standard Investments’ Logan Ashcraft, who was named to Leap’s board of directors.

The funding round was led by Standard Investments with participation by DNV Ventures and Sustainable Future Ventures as well as existing Leap investors, including Union Square Ventures, Congruent Ventures and National Grid Partners.

An acquisition to bolster ultrasonic water meter readings

French industrial group Sagemcom, which develops broadband communication and energy solutions, has acquired Odit-e, a French digital player specialising in AI solutions for the planning, operation and maintenance of low-voltage drinking water electrical distribution networks.

The acquisition enables Sagemcom to broaden its range of software solutions (namely the Siconia software suite) for network managers, relying on Odit-e for the analysis of data collected by smart meters and sensors installed in the networks.

According to Sagemcom, the Siconia technology offering includes a range of ultrasonic smart water meters to control, monitor and manage water use in residential and industrial environments.

Odit-e’s solutions, utilising smart meter-gathered data, aims to inform decision making for DSOs, through ‘Physics informed AI’ algorithms.

Thus, through the acquisition, Sagemcom is aiming to strengthen its position in the electricity and water distribution markets.

In a release announcing the acquisition, Patrick Sevian, Sagemcom president commented on how the deal “strengthens our expertise in energy transition and enables us to meet the growing needs of energy and water distribution operators.

“By combining the skills of Odit-e and Sagemcom, we are convinced that we will be able to offer ever more innovative and efficient industrial solutions to our customers.”

Make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances Weekly for the latest in finance and investment announcements coming from the energy industry.

Cheers,
Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

Follow me on LinkedIn

Lunar power satellite conceived

With the European Space Agency’s Solaris initiative to develop space-based solar power for transmission to Earth just getting underway, the organisation also is starting to investigate the potential for space-based solar to deliver power to the Moon.

With support from ESA’s innovation programme, the Swiss startup Astrostrom has developed a design concept of a ‘Greater Earth Lunar Power Station’ that could be constructed on the Moon mainly from resources there and that could deliver microwave power down to receivers on the lunar surface, for example for powering a base there.

The design features V-shaped Moon-produced iron pyrite crystal-based solar panels with integrated antennas, deployed in a helix configuration extending more than a square kilometre end to end and yielding an estimated continuous 23MW of energy for lunar surface operations.

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The station, located at a determined point around 61,350 km from the lunar surface, would also be inhabited, serving both as a gateway between Earth and Moon operations with artificial gravity for adaptive health purposes, as well as potentially an attractive tourist destination.

The concept could equally be adapted for the development of Earth facing solar power satellites.

Launching large numbers of gigawatt-scale solar power satellites into orbit from the surface of the Earth could run into the problem of a lack of launch capacity and a lunar-made solar power satellite would require around five times less velocity change to place into geostationary Earth orbit compared to satellites launched from Earth itself.

According to the study the power station could be achieved without requiring any technological breakthroughs, with most of the core technologies for lunar surface mining, beneficiation and fabrication operations already in use or under development on Earth today.

Moreover – and despite the substantial engineering development required – the solar power satellites produced on the Moon would not only be cheaper than any comparable Earth-developed solar power satellite, but the electricity they generated for Earth would also be cost-competitive with any terrestrial power alternative.

Harvesting electricity from air

If new research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst is anything to go by, almost any material could be turned into a device that continuously harvests electricity from humidity in the air.

The secret, according to the researchers, lies in being able to pepper the material with nanopores, or small holes, less than 100nm in diameter – less than a thousandth of the width of a human hair.

This number corresponds to the ‘mean free path’ of water molecules when suspended in air. An energy harvester made from a thin layer of material filled with nanopores smaller than 100nm would let water molecules pass from the upper to the lower part of the material, but as the pores are so small, the water molecules would easily bump into the pore’s edge as they pass through the thin layer.

This means that the upper part of the layer would be bombarded with many more charge-carrying water molecules than the lower part, creating a charge imbalance, thereby effectually create a battery and one that runs as long as there is any humidity in the air.

“Think of a cloud, which is nothing more than a mass of water,” says Jun Yao, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering at UMass Amherst, and the work’s senior author.

“Each of those droplets contains a charge, and when conditions are right, the cloud can produce a lightning bolt – but we don’t know how to reliably capture electricity from lightning. What we’ve done is to create a human-built, small-scale cloud that produces electricity for us predictably and continuously so that we can harvest it.”

Since humidity is ever present, a harvester should be able to run 24/7, rain or shine, day or night and whether or not the wind blows.

Moreover, as the thickness is so tiny, many thousands could be stacked to create a device capable of delivering kilowatt-level power.

Solar PV for agriculture

With the need to install renewables in different locations, French solar energy developer TSE has come up with the concept of PV canopies for installation in agricultural settings.

In 2022, the company installed its first agrovoltaics pilot site of 3ha in north central France, comprised of a PV shading system with a capacity of 2.4MWp – equivalent to the power consumption of a community of 1,350 inhabitants – over large-scale crops of soya, wheat, forage rye, winter barley and rapeseed.

The project came into being because of production limitations on the farm after suffering from hot and arid summers for more than a decade.

The agricultural canopy is composed of a large shading structure equipped with solar panels with tracker systems fixed on cables 5m above the fields. A supervision system controls the orientation of the panels, depending on the weather conditions and to completely automate the acquisition of operational data.

With the rotating shades, the system is able to mitigate climatic conditions in the summer season by lowering the temperature under the shade.

The pilot is a 9-year demonstrator and three similar projects are reported under construction along with a further 12 in the development phase.

Also on the radar is capital commitments for a Danish renewables fund held by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, which they claim place it on track to being the biggest of its kind globally, as well as the EIB’s raised support package to REPowerEU of up to €45 billion.

Enel sells part of Australian operations

Italian green energy major Enel, acting through its fully-owned subsidiary Enel Green Power (EGP), has signed an agreement with Japan-based INPEX Corporation, for the sale of 50% of the Group’s activities in Australia, namely Enel Green Power Australia and Enel Green Power Australia Trust.

The sale of the two entities, which are currently wholly owned by EGP, went for approximately €400 million ($449 million) enterprise value, €140 million ($157.2 million) of which is in debt.

Upon closing, EGP and INPEX are expected to jointly control EGPA, overseeing the company’s renewable generation portfolio and continuing to develop its project pipeline of wind, solar, storage and hybrid projects.

The overall transaction is expected to generate a positive impact of €87 million ($97.7 million) on the 2023 Group’s ordinary and reported EBITDA.

Moreover, the deal is expected to generate a positive effect on the Group’s consolidated net debt of approximately €145 million ($162.8 million).

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The sale marks the latest from the Enel Group to consolidate its debt: October 2022 saw the Group divest 50% stake in US-based Gridspertise and launch a set of sustainability-linked bonds worth €4.1 billion ($4 billion); March this year saw them sell all equity stakes in its Romanian operations to Greece’s Public Power Corporation.

EGPA operates 3 plants totalling 310MW of installed gross capacity powered by solar as well as one 76MW wind project under construction and one 93MW solar project in execution.

EGPA is also developing a significant portfolio of wind, solar, storage and hybrid projects across Australia.

The sale marks a continued entry into the renewables scene for Inpex, a Tokyo headquartered oil and gas giant – the largest exploration and production company in Japan –  that has recently announced clean hydrogen and ammonia projects, which they claim as a first for Japan.

€5.6 billion for Copenhagen Infrastructure’s fifth fund

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has reached first close on its fifth flagship fund – Copenhagen Infrastructure V (CI V) – at €5.6 billion ($6.3 billion) in capital commitments received.

According to the Danish CIP, which specialises in renewable infrastructure investments  – the commitment place CI V on path to reach its target of €12 billion ($13.4 billion), becoming what the company claims the “world’s largest dedicated greenfield renewable energy fund” they state in a press release.

A large group of institutional investors across continental Europe, the Nordics, the UK, North America and the Asia-Pacific region participated in the first close of CI V.

The investment strategy, states CIP, is a continuation of CIP’s predecessor flagship funds CI I, CI II, CI III, and CI IV, applying a repeated approach where projects are entered early and de-risked and optimised prior to the start of construction to capture an attractive greenfield premium.

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The fund will focus on greenfield investments – a form of foreign direct investment where a parent company starts a new venture in a foreign country by constructing new operations from the ground up.

CPI’s fund will focus on such investments specifically within large-scale renewable energy infrastructure.

According to CIP, the fund has a global reach and intends to diversify investments across technologies such as offshore & onshore wind, energy storage and solar in low-risk OECD countries in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific.

At this first close, the Fund has ownership of more than 40 renewable energy infrastructure projects with a total potential commitment of approximately €20 billion ($22.4 billion), corresponding to more than 150% of the target fund size.

#ICYMI: EIB boosts REPowerEU support package to €45 billion

The EIB’s Board of Directors has decided to raise the additional funds earmarked for projects aligned with REPowerEU – a plan designed to end Europe’s dependence on fossil-fuel imports – from the initial €30 billion ($33.5 billion) package announced in October 2022 to €45 billion ($50.2 billion).

The decision was made at the EIB Group’s July meeting in Luxembourg.

The new funding marks a fresh record for the Group, expanding its support to the build-up of manufacturing capacity for strategic net-zero technologies and products.

Projects eligible for financing include renewables, energy storage, grids and energy efficiency, as well as electric vehicle charging infrastructure – Read more.

Make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances for the latest in finance and investment news coming from the energy sector.

Cheers,
Yusuf Latief
Smart Energy International

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The white paper points to the issues such as intermittency, inertia deficits and grid congestion that have arisen with the introduction of renewables to the grid and the classical response being to build bigger and more infrastructure.

But with their costs and scalability issues, blockchain as a distributed architecture is seen by many as the sensible alternative – and according to the white paper, is the only option that will prove to be better and more efficient.

“The rapidly emerging and more complex energy landscape demands a shift from traditional centralised databases to blockchain and the new and decentralised markets they unlock. Realising this is fundamental to saving lots on battery capacity by using the existing resources better.”

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The white paper continues that there is also a stronger claim to be made about the appropriateness of next-generation blockchain to mitigate the problems of the grid with new functionalities anticipated such as peer exchanges in real time and forward booking of electricity slots with time ahead cost dependencies.

With forward booking, auctioning and re-booking slots with penalty clauses and bonus offers, a real-time high-volume Gen 3 blockchain will be needed to manage this market.

Gen 3 blockchains

Gen 3 blockchains are the latest evolution providing significant advances in terms of scalability, interoperability and transaction throughput and cost.

Whereas Gen 1 blockchain, or Bitcoin, with its proof-of-work consensus, is energy intensive and Gen 2 blockchains introduced smart contracting, Gen 3 blockchains use the more energy efficient proof-of-stake or proof-of-history consensus mechanisms.

Examples are Polkadot, on to which Energy Web is moving for its next-gen Energy Web X, and Solana, which Powerledger – one of the white paper’s contributors – has adapted for its blockchain, while others include Cardano, Avalanche and Algorand.

The white paper points out that the high throughput and low latency of Gen 3 blockchains capable of processing thousands of transactions per second make them suitable for handling the high volume of data generated in energy systems in applications requiring near real-time settlement, such as energy trading and grid management.

Other features detailed of Gen 3 blockchains include transparency and security and trustless and decentralised operation.

Gen 3 blockchain use cases

Blockchain technology is best suited for environments where trust is especially important, where there is a need for a secure and transparent record-keeping system, supported by the automation of complex transactions through smart contracts, the white paper states.

Some examples cited among those that have been introduced include renewable energy tracking and energy attribute certificates and transactive approaches including peer-to-peer trading and demand response, while emerging examples are real-time electricity billing with smart metering and electric vehicle-to-grid transactions.

In conclusion, the white paper says that while centralised database systems are working well right now by and large, as countries reach their renewables goals or net zero goals, the grid will need to engage traditional consumers to help balance supply and demand. And in order for it to work well a very agile energy market is needed.

“While sceptics argue that existing technologies can fulfil the same functions, blockchain represents the culmination of advancements in mathematics that have revolutionised everyday activities like communication and online shopping.”

Energy management in smart homes

With energy management becoming integrated into popular home offerings, such as Samsung’s SmartThings app which can connect to users’ smart meters, the concept of the smart home is fast gathering ground.

However, many remain unaware of its potential, according to Samsung. In a recent survey of British consumers, the tech giant found that almost three-quarters were unaware of being able to place smart buttons around the home to allow one to easily turn on or off any connected appliances and two-thirds were unaware of being able to integrate the management of energy devices or create a safer home environment.

Nevertheless, the survey found that after reading more information about heat pumps, almost one-third said they were likely to consider installing a heat pump in the next 12 months.

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This is broadly in line with the four in ten found in another survey to be considering purchasing energy-efficient solutions, such as solar panels and battery storage.

James Kitto, Vice President for Samsung UK Mobile said there’s never been a more revolutionary time for connected living.

“Smart home technology is more sophisticated and intuitive than ever before, empowering people and improving lives in ways unimaginable even five years ago – from breaking down barriers around accessibility, enabling consumers maintain healthier lifestyles and helping save money, the possibilities are endless.”

Rail-based mobile storage

In addition to fixed storage, interest is growing in the potential of mobile storage, particularly to support the grid in the face of the more extreme weather events that are occurring.

The question is how to deliver it and now a group of scientists in the US at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have suggested that the country’s rail system could serve as a nationwide backup transmission grid over which containerised batteries could be shared among regions to meet demand peaks, relieve transmission congestion and increase resilience in cases of low-frequency high-impact events.

According to the scientists writing in the journal Nature Energy, compared to new transmission lines and stationary battery capacity, deploying ‘rail-based mobile energy storage’ as they term it could save the power sector upwards of $300/kWyear and $85/kWyear, respectively.

They estimate that a single train could carry 1GWh of battery storage, and that batteries could be moved between most ISO regions within a week without disrupting regular freight operations.

They also note that there are no known technical barriers to excluding such mobile storage from grid participation.

However, addressing interconnection challenges and revising regulatory frameworks would be necessary for deployment at scale.

Energy harvesting for remote power

Energy delivery for services in inaccessible and remote locations can be challenging, especially with the need for sustainability and the move away from traditional sources such as diesel power.

In the clean water industry, the baseline solution for powering the IoT revolution has been low capacity, single use, unrecyclable batteries.

But British startup Vysion Technologies believes the answer lies in energy harvesting.

With an award from the national water sector regulator Ofwat, Vysion Technologies is aiming to develop an advanced micro-turbine design that harvests energy from the water flow.

Another company that has been awarded funding from Ofwat is the Fish Friendly Hydropower Company, which is developing a pico power floating hydropower turbine generator made from high-density recyclable polymer

The PicoStream as it is named is intended for easy installation in remote locations.

Depending on progress in this first phase, these companies should be in line for funding to go on to develop and pilot their concepts.

Meanwhile the US startup Aigen has developed a solar powered robotics platform that can weed farmers’ fields and provide real time data on the status of the field and the crops therein.

According to Aigem such is the demand among agriculturalists that 2024 and 2025 preorders for the service sold out in 1 day!

“Farmers tell us again and again that weeds are the number one problem they face. So, that’s where we’re starting: developing a solution for farmers to immediately reduce their costs and get rid of weeds, all while growing healthier crops,” said Kenny Lee, Aigen’s co-founder and CEO.

Speaking on behalf of ESMIG, Europe’s smart energy provider organisation, in a Connect interview at Enlit Europe, Sellmann said there was happiness with the first draft of the European Union’s digitalisation strategy for a common energy data model or ‘data space’.

Drawing a parallel with the automotive sector data exchange Catena-X, she commented on its success saying that it had enabled new business models that wouldn’t be available otherwise.

“We believe with data standards that we share across the EU, we decrease boundaries as currently it is being done on an individual and country by country basis.”

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In this context regulators have an important role to play, as they do to support interoperability and other developments, Sellmann says, commenting on the presence of demand side flexibility in European legislation since 2019 but not yet being implemented in all countries.

As an example she says that in Germany she is unable as an end-user to access her consumption data, to benefit from flexible tariffs or to feed back excess PV generation to the grid.

Turning to the ongoing smart meter rollout across the EU, Sellmann said that the vendors are – and have been – ready to support it but again she highlights the need for a legislative push.

“The cost-benefit analysis, which ultimately comes down to the costs of deploying the technology, is one way to look at it but to make the energy transition happen means that we also need to look at all the business models we can actually leverage if we have a smart meter deployed.

“Yes, we need to look at interoperability and we need to have certain measures in place to scale via the European Union, but we need our legislators to support us in doing it.”

While there are challenges, such as the supply chain, this is in the process of being resolved.

“Smart meters are the foundation for visibility for the utility but also for end consumers for making the energy transition happen. To reach the 80% target by 2028 we need to move as we have a long way to go.”

Germany-based European Energy Exchange (EEX) has acquired Nasdaq’s European power trading and clearing business, subject to receipt of customary regulatory approvals.

The transaction to EEX will involve the transfer of existing open positions in Nasdaq Nordic, French and German power futures as well as European carbon emission allowance futures (EUAs) to EEX’s clearing house European Commodity Clearing (ECC).

No financial details of the deal have been disclosed.

Nasdaq Clearing AB, along with the clearing infrastructure to support it, is not part of the sale.

As part of the agreement with Nasdaq, EEX will update the current Nordic power market structure, replacing Electricity Price Area Differential (EPAD) contracts with zonal futures contracts.

Until the receipt of regulatory approvals, Nasdaq will continue to operate its European power trading and clearing business as usual.

Stated EEX on their website: “EEX is confident that overall liquidity in the Nordics can be improved by offering zonal futures, as the market will be accessible for a wide pool of pan-European power traders who can execute geographic trading strategies and capture cross-margining efficiencies. Nordic participants can also hedge using the existing Nordic System Price products offered by EEX.”

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Svenska’s EPADs

Responding to the announcement was Swedish TSO Svenska kraftnät, which has since February this year, they state, conducted auctioning of EPAD contracts corresponding to 10% of the Swedish grid’s capacity to transmit electricity between electricity price areas SE2, SE3 and SE4.

State the TSO: “The auctions are part of Svenska kraftnät’s pilot project, with the aim of supporting liquidity in the financial electricity market and [facilitating] the opportunities for market participants to hedge their production or consumption.”

The pilot, which runs in 2023 with a possible extension until 2024, can only auction EPAD contracts if they are traded on the financial electricity market.

One month prior – a Baltic acquisition

One month prior to the Nasdaq announcement, EEX Group acquired Gas exchange GET Baltic, which has become part of the Group.

The deal was signed between EEX and Lithuania’s gas TSO Amber Grid, under which EEX will take 66% of the shares in the regional gas exchange GET Baltic.

As a result, the gas exchange operating in the three Baltic countries and Finland will become part of EEX Group. Amber Grid will hold the remaining 34% of the shares and will continue to support the further development of the gas business in the dynamic Baltic Sea region.

The short-term and long-term contracts of GET Baltic will be offered under EEX’s German exchange license, making use of the EEX trading infrastructure- and clearing services provided by the ECC.

Once admitted at EEX, the GET Baltic Trading Participants will be able to trade not only the current spot and futures contracts but also other hubs and asset classes offered by EEX.

Said EEX CEO Peter Reitz: “We aim to create a harmonised European gas trading platform based on EEX’s trading infrastructure. The acquisition of the majority shares in GET Baltic extends EEX Group’s offering for the pan-European gas markets as well as our customer base. As a result, this creates new opportunities to increase liquidity in all gas markets operated by EEX and GET Baltic.”

GET Baltic is a significant market player in the region; in 2022, a volume of 7TWh of natural gas was traded on the GET Baltic exchange.

Energy Transitions Podcast:
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A Floridian energy exchange

Other trading news was spotted across the sea in Florida.

A week after the EEX’s Nasdaq acquisition, and seperate from their Western Europe Expansion, the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) initiated trading with four new Florida energy companies added to their roster, including Duke Energy Florida, JEA, Tampa Electric Company and Gainesville Regional Utilities.

The platform allows the US utility companies to buy and sell power through the SEEM platform., which launched operations supporting enhanced energy trading in November 2022. The initial announcement was made in October.

Duke Energy Florida, JEA and Tampa Electric Company have joined as members, whereas Gainesville Regional Utilities, will be a non-member participant.

Members have a seat on the SEEM Board and related committees and pay all operational, audit, administrative and legal expenses, which allows non-Members to participate in SEEM at no cost.

“Adding new Participants creates more opportunity for everyone in the market, enabling more matches,” said Nelson Peeler, SEEM board chair and senior vice president of transmission and fuels strategy and policy at Duke Energy.

“Expanding the SEEM footprint into Florida will also create more market diversity empowered by zero-cost transmission and further facilitate solar and renewables integration.”

During the first seven months of operation, there have been more than 45,000 transactions representing more than 1TW of power transacted across all participants including transactions in 73% of all hours since market launch.

The SEEM platform facilitates automated, sub-hourly trading, allowing participants to buy and sell power close to the time the energy is consumed, utilising available unreserved transmission.

The SEEM footprint includes 23 entities in parts of 12 US states with more than 180,000MWs during summer (winter capacity is nearly 200,000MWs) across two time zones.

For the latest finance and investment announcements coming from the energy industry, make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances Weekly.

Cheers,
Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

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