Energy hub

The solution for companies and industrial estates that have problems due to grid congestion

What is an Energy hub?

An Energy hub is a partnership in a geographically defined area between a group of consumers (companies, organisations and sometimes individuals) and producers to optimise the use of electricity. The optimisation can be aimed at better utilisation of the electricity network or the purchase and sale of electricity. If other products, such as heat, are used for optimisation, this is also called a multi-commodity hub.

What does an Energy hub solve?

Netcongestion

At the moment, companies are struggling with problems due to grid congestion. With the congested network, a new or larger connection in these grid congestion areas is no longer possible to take (more) power or feed it in. The growth of a company or sustainability is coming to a standstill. An energy hub can solve the problems by controlling capacity. The total capacity of the collective can then be used and distributed intelligently so that overloading of the network is prevented and companies can still grow and become more sustainable.

Trade in electricity

It is also possible to optimize the trade in electricity. For example, dynamic rates or imbalances are controlled. To make this possible, there must be a contract that enables this trade. A trading platform can also be used to unlock the value of smart control. The condition is that there must be sufficient capacity on the network, or network comes before trade.

Step-by-step plan

In this step-by-step plan we describe the entire process to create an energy hub and what the role of Lyv is.

1. Initiative and participants

A board is needed to issue and manage the order for the Energy Hub. Before the Energy Hub is formalized, an association of entrepreneurs or a government can take the initiative to bring participants together and create an Energy Hub. The initiators can then issue the first order to start step 2.

2. Formalize Energy Hub as an entity

For optimal cooperation between the companies, formalization of the cooperation in an entity is necessary. The legal form can be a cooperative or BV and depends on the activities of the Energy hub. The formation of the entity is also important because grid operators are inclined to conclude an agreement with a formalized group for 'collective network optimization contracts'. Lyv has no role in this formalization, but does have a piece of advice: don't make it too complicated!

3. Build an energy profile

Before the Energy Hub knows exactly what it can control, the real problem must be revealed. In other words, it must be accurately determined who uses how much electricity and when. Lyv has developed measuring equipment and an energy management platform for this. High-frequency (among other things) power, current and voltage are measured per participant. Lyv's equipment for these measurements is also the basis for implementing optimizations. The community portal is also being set up and a community manager is being appointed. The community manager is the point of contact for the participants and for Lyv. The optimizations are an ongoing process and are fed by data and wishes of participants. The data of the individual participants is combined in the community dashboard. This creates an energy profile of the joint participants.

4. Analysis of the data

The high-frequency measured data over a longer period is collected. This provides insight into the energy profile and makes visible where the problem lies and which optimizations are needed to solve problems. Lyv can provide explanations and advice on the optimizations.

5. Optimize

After the Energy Hub has agreed to the proposed optimizations and all participants have been informed, the control is set up using Lyv's energy management system. In addition to the control, Lyv also supplies battery systems. These battery systems can be added to the Energy Hub to further optimize the use of electricity.