NODES established two pilots for flexibility trading in 2020, with Haugaland Kraft Nett (HK Nett) and Linja respectively. The pilots will last for one year, and results are expected by the summer of 2021. We had a talk with the three companies to find out more about their pilot projects.
“We have a large network, high production, but relatively few customers. This results in challenges with regard to long, weak radials and bottleneck problems that we want to solve,” says project manager Kristian Vassbotn at Linja.
“We have areas such as Utsira, which is supplied by a long submarine cable with limited capacity on a long radial. An increasing share of unregulated production from wind and solar power will lead to major voltage fluctuations in the grid,” says project manager Kristian Finborud Hansen at HK Nett.
Flexibility trading market
The market operator NODES has developed a marketplace and processes for flexibility trading (see fact box). Through the collaboration with HK Nett and Linja, the participants will gain experience the correct time to buy flexibility, how much should be purchased and at which price, says senior consultant Hallstein Hagen in NODES.
“We are therefore very happy to have Linja and HK Nett with us on this pilot. These are issues that are common to almost all the grid companies in the country, and it is important that solutions are developed that suit everyone and not just one single grid company,” he emphasises.
Hansen at HK Nett points out that they will utilise flexibility as an alternative to traditional reinforcement of the network.
“To do that, we will need applications that can predict when we need to regulate the capacity in the network. The project aims to develop applications that use
AMS data, consumption patterns, local grid data and weather forecasts to predict when the power flow will create problems in the network, and then solve this with flexibility.
Living lab
Haugaland Kraft Energi is a participant in the project that offers flexibility to Nodes’ marketplace that HK Nett can use. The sister company HK Energi will, with the help of load management for selected customers, offer flexibility to meet the grid company’s requirement for load regulation.
Hansen points out that they have already established a “living lab” at Utsira with a lot of test equipment and other installations for R&D projects in the grid.
“We are responding to signals from the regulator NVE to take advantage of the opportunities that income framework-financed research provides us. The goal is also for the project to benefit online customers in the form of lower network tariffs and increased security of supply. There will also be an environmental benefit if we can reduce the need for investments in physical grid systems through flexibility.
Pulling its weight
His colleagues in Linja agree completely. “We have a tradition of helping to carry our share of the R&D for the entire industry, and then some. We have a production surplus that we have problems exporting. We need better flexibility products and not least an efficient marketplace that helps us to solve such acute challenges quickly,” Vassbotn points out.
He points out that price incentives alone have proven to be ineffective for customers.
“In particular, household customers barely respond to price signals. To solve acute power challenges, for both surpluses and deficits, we need to have effective tools that handle flexibility.”
Vassbotn points out that even though they are collaborating with Nodes on this project, he hopes that the result will be interesting for all suppliers of ICT platforms.
“But so far we have only found that Nodes is on the ball.”
About NODES
An independent market operator of marketplace services.
Will offer marketplaces for, among other things, energy and local flexibility. Owned by TSO Holding (Nordic grid system companies) and Agder Energi Flexibility.
The majority of customers become operators who supply and demand flexibility and related products.
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