Wattflex: a step towards a new party in the energy market

Local energy cooperations can be combined in a cooperative aggregator, also known as Balancing Service Provider (BSP). A BSP is a market participant that can take an advantage of an energy surplus or deficit. The project Wattflex focusses on a design for a new type of ‘hybrid’ cooperative aggregator.

Balance of energy supply and demand by households

In the Netherlands we increasingly generate more solar and wind energy. Which provides power if the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, but that supply does not always match the demand for electricity. Households can take part in keeping a balance between supply and demand of electricity. They can place home batteries for example or cleverly charge or discharge an electric car. These households increasingly unite in energy cooperations to get more influence on what happens locally on energy transition.

Cooperative aggregator as an intermediary

To better respond to flexibility in supply and demand, these local cooperatives can be merged into a cooperative aggregator. A 'hybrid' cooperative aggregator acts as an intermediary, collecting and managing both the flexibility in energy demand and supply, and the local renewable energy generation of the cooperatives. With revenues flowing back to the members. This can lead to new initiatives, such as insulation programs or shared mobility.

The role of Entrance

Through the Wattflex project, existing technology is being adapted and linked to batteries with newly developed software. Within this project, Entrance is responsible for developing and testing BSP algorithms and evaluating the services on technical, economic, and social aspects.