Advocating together for more intelligence in the grid
Making digital solutions for the grid of the future and their benefits better known is the goal of the newly created Digital Grid Initiative. Nine young companies from Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Austria have joined together to make the power of digital technology clearer. They are thereby reacting to an existing scepticism in the market about new technologies, their advantages and possible uses. The initiative aims at grid operators, associations, and regulatory authorities to promote exchange and dialogue between different stakeholders. The initiative members include Greenbird, Adaptricity, depsys, enersis, envelio, Gridhound, SMIGHT, Venios and Zaphiro.
Increasing complexity and uncertainty are hampering digitalization.
The energy system's transformation is creating radically new requirements for technologies and regulation of the distribution grids. Distribution grid operators, associations and regulatory authorities experience a sharp increase in complexity for secure and cost-effective network processes. At the same time, there is a great deal of uncertainty using new, digital solutions due to the still strongly promoted classic grid reinforcement.
The visibility of these solutions, which address current and future grid requirements, is currently hardly available for distribution grid operators and regulators.
"In an exchange with other smart grid players, we quickly realized that entering the market is a major hurdle for most of them," says Oliver Deuschle, head of SMIGHT. "Young innovative companies bring new digital solutions into the value chain. Together we can cover all customer needs and offer appropriate solutions," adds Olaf Erber, Sales Manager Germany at depsys.
A series of webinars kick off in March.
The Digital Grid Initiative sees itself as an open learning network without a formal organisational structure.
We want to promote the exchange of concrete experiences in the planning, implementation and operation of new solutions between the network partners and with the industry," says Andreas Ulbig, COO Adaptricity.
The aim is to accelerate the transformation of the distribution grids in German-speaking countries towards digital grid operation. As a prelude to this, the initiative offers a series of webinars with practical information on new digital solutions and necessary administrative and operational processes.
Register for the first webinar on the topic “Future grid operation – analog or digital?” (in German language) will take place on March 9th.
