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Energy management opportunities and challenges

Renewable energy is under fire in today's energy markets: widely varying energy costs and the emergence of new market models make the revenue model of renewable energy sources difficult to assess. On the other hand, sustainability and CO2 reduction are becoming increasingly important to companies. This duality means that more than ever there is a need for informed advice for future investments.

Contemporary companies with renewable energy facilities face several challenges in their energy management:

• Overproduction and inefficiency: Many installations, such as solar panels, are installed without matching the consumption profile, leading to energy excess and waste. Optimizations aimed at self-consumption are essential.
  
• Fluctuating day-ahead and intraday energy costs, caused by both renewable and nuclear energy production, present opportunities for optimal energy management. However, many companies lack the knowledge to respond effectively. Price volatility makes renewable installations less profitable, while energy bills rise due to a double effect: low energy prices during peaks in solar production and high rates at other times. This complicates a stable revenue model and requires strategic adjustments in energy management.
• Congestion issues: It is important to consider how smart energy management can help prevent congestion, such as an oversupply of electricity from renewable sources, and promote sustainable growth.

Energy management in a complex market environment

Many companies try to keep the cost of their manufactured end product as low as possible. This is a huge challenge due to varying energy prices and the ever-increasing cost of raw materials, for example. To control energy costs and increase sustainability, more and more thought is being given to process optimization or investments in flexibility solutions, such as battery containers and E-boilers. In addition, European CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) regulations play a crucial role, as they require companies to be more transparent about their sustainability performance. This calls for customized solutions that support the energy transition not only technically but also business economically.

A personalized, neutral calculation model that provides insight into how specific assets or technologies affect energy consumption and efficiency is often lacking. Energy optimization is currently often approached in a general way, without solutions that fully fit unique business processes. This makes it difficult for companies, especially SMEs, to choose technologies that fit both their consumption and production patterns and their sustainability goals.

TETRA project EnergyWise: Strategic energy management.

Our project EnergyWise answers this need by creating an energy management tool that helps companies, and specifically SMEs, deal strategically with the challenges and opportunities in the energy market. This tool is designed to support companies in their energy management and guide them in investing in technologies that contribute to sustainable profitability. Our solution aims to be:

• Sector- and profile-specific advice

Through AI, we determine user profiles based on sector, energy needs and technology consumption. These insights are then integrated into the tool, creating standardized business profiles that give companies insight into typical energy consumption and production patterns within their category.

• Risk assessment for investments

The tool allows companies to run simulations aimed at maximizing energy generation from renewable sources. These simulations provide concrete recommendations to mitigate risks and optimally respond to market developments, such as Fluvius' new congestion models.

• Optimization

By providing substantiated advice on energy consumption and production patterns, the tool helps companies to better align processes with their own consumption. This leads to more efficient use of energy and a reduction in energy costs.

How is this achieved?

- Use cases in various sectors
The tool is developed and tested using use cases from various sectors. This ensures broad applicability and practical relevance.

- Data-driven reports
Companies receive clear reports with visualizations of their energy profiles, risk analyses, and optimization potential. These reports are both practical and strategically usable, allowing companies to take action quickly.

With this approach, we aim to help companies not only face challenges in the energy market, but also seize opportunities to strengthen their competitive position and sustainability.