Resources

Focus: DER integration while increasing end-user adoption.

An attractive offer to integrate distributed energy resources (DER) and increase self-consumption of end-users.

The challenge

The change from consumers to prosumers gives new challenges for grids and portfolio optimization. Load profiles and end-user consumption are significantly changing. At the same time end-users with PV would like to increase their self-consumption to a maximum to get most out of their produced electricity. Investment in DER resources are still high.

The solution

EKS and tiko have built a very simple, comprehensive, turn-key PV – self-consumption offer. By integrating different kinds of loads into the PV optimization end-users have the full transparency and maximize self-consumption. The optimization can be chosen either to maximize the autarky or economic optimization regarding tariffs. The connection of PV and later also storage systems allows EKS to deal with real-time measured load and production profiles of end-users.

The results

Customer can choose on the web on 3 self-generation solutions (small, medium, large) depending on the size of the PV.

• ✓ The solution is comprehensive: PV, storage by boiler and/or battery, self-consumption tools and options, integration of smart-plugs, alarming, visualization.
• ✓ The service is comprehensive and turn-key: Feasibility study, authorizations, installation, configuration, cash in subsidies, guaranteed PV production.
• ✓ With more than 100 customers the solution is one of the best-selling PV services over all Switzerland.

Focus: Small scale battery storage for frequency regulation.

Generating additional revenues without impacting self-consumption.

The challenge

New business models require new ways of thinking. The challenge was to integrate several thousand battery storage systems into a virtual power plant to provide frequency containment reserve (also known as primary control) to the power transmission grid in Germany. At the same time, the goal was not to impact the self-consumption of the consumer.

The solution

The tiko in-house developed hardware (sonnen flat box) and software systems allow the connection of battery storage devices to the virtual power plant in a secure and efficient way. All components and systems have been designed to meet the high IT security requirements applied to market participants for the Transmission Grid, such as media break and isolation from public Internet. The pooling approach allows the usage of the flexibility of the connected batteries without impacting too much the self-consumption of the household.

The results

The rollout started in 2017, with now several thousand batteries connected. The external control from the virtual power plant is almost not recognized by the household. Created revenues allow the set-up of new business models.

Focus: aggregation of loads to intensify end-user retention.

First to act, the Swiss Utility Repower offered tiko as new end-consumer service to strengthen customer retention - with a 30% take rate.

The challenge

Repower realized early, that the margins in the classical energy business are continuously decreasing. Moreover, the role of consumers is continuously changing, from pure consumers to prosumers with own production and storage. To keep the customer base of more than 50’000 households with an attractive pricing and service offer created pressure to act.

The solution

Repower decided to act proactively. As an asset based trading company with sales and distribution grid, they saw the potential and the value in connecting and aggregating capacities – not only for grid stability as frequency response offer to the national grid but also for intensifying customer engagement. The focus on households was chosen since in the C&I market there is already a strong competition. To integrate loads with the customers will also lead to the opportunity to integrate renewable energies better into the energy system and create a new attractive service for customers. In a first step the solution was offered to all customers with a heating load, including heat pump, night storage and direct heating owners.

The results

With two roll-out waves Repower acquired almost 1'000 customers resulting in almost 30% success rate of the potential customer base.

So far Repower achieved the following results:

• ✓ They gained an additional revenue stream by selling the aggregated capacity at the auxiliary market.
• ✓ They know their portfolio of households much better now.
• ✓ They created a login effect on their customers and realized therefore a better customer engagement.

Currently, Repower is thinking about introducing the new tiko services for PV and storage customers.

Focus: increasing end user comfort value proposition while lowering Capex.

How collaborative innovation allowed us to deliver a strong value proposal.

The challenge

Direct Energie’s challenge was to differentiate themselves through innovation on a competitive market, thanks to an innovative business model. The business model we proposed would deliver added value to their customers, proposing them to save energy and gain transparency through the remote control of their heating systems, while financing such system through the sale of xRL to RTE, the French Grid – which then required a prequalification by RTE.

The solution

A first deployment of our centralized solution early 2017 led to a prequalification by the French grid, RTE. Beyond certification this deployment provided insight on the typical heating systems behavior in France and customers’ expectations. Following an open and shared analysis, we decided to adapt the tiko system and develop a decentralized solution, increasing end users’ benefits by adding to the existing heating control capabilities a true multi-room temperature control solution, compatible with the system initially deployed and compliant with the Grid prequalification.

This decentralized solution offers a brand new “plug-in” concept for its control device that will allow to reduce the installation time - and thus Capex - as well as to optimize for Direct Energie the product maintenance along its entire lifetime.

The results

This decentralized solution will be deployed throughout 2018. It will bring possibly the best-in-class multi-room temperature control on the market to Direct Energie’s end users.

Focus: Microgrid solution for peak load management.

Increase of energy efficiency and decrease of peak loads for mountain resorts.

The challenge

Swiss mountain resorts have the challenge of many distributed heating loads all over the skiing area. They are small but in sum using several hundreds of MWh electricity per year. At the same time the start of the mountain railway in the morning or artificial snowing are creating massive peak loads which are expensive.

The solution

The solution developed consists of two parts. With the first part the distributed heating systems got connected and are now easily controlled and managed remotely. The possibility to program heating temperature and timings supports savings. The second part implemented allows a peak load control through timing and the possibility to choose which loads should participate in a peak event.

The results

Today several mountain resorts in Switzerland have the solutions implemented, as for example Zermatt, Davos, St. Moritz and Scuol. With the tiko solution they are saving up to 60% of their heating consumption and costs.