QOS Energy, a renewable O&M analytics software provider, has completed the delivery of an Energy Management System for SunHydrO, a combined renewable energy and storage R&D project led by French aggregator Sun’R Smart Energy.
The SunHydrO project aims to foster the grid integration of variable renewable energy sources with the added flexibility offered by pumped hydro storage units.
The increased penetration of renewable energy in the electricity network impacts grid balancing capabilities, and requires the introduction of additional flexibility to the energy system. Renewable energy, variable by nature, must also mitigate its exposition to electricity market prices and their associated risks. The efficient management of this variability can only be achieved by the use of flexible production assets, the control of electricity demand, and the development of networks and storage. The SunHydrO project can integrate distributed renewable energy into the grid by coupling it to pumped hydro storage in a Virtual Power Plant, increasing both the flexibility and the value of the energy system on the electricity markets.
Led by Sun’R Smart Energy, SunHydrO is a collaborative project involving more than 12 parties. The Energy Management System designed by QOS Energy offers the real-time aggregation of data generated from the plants, weather data, market prices and the energy storage units’ behaviour into one single data hub. What is more, short-term and very short-term production and price forecast models have been developed. A flexible pumped hydro storage unit has been dimensioned to meet the needs of a local loop with lots of variable decentralized generation. QOS Energy developed optimization algorithms to improve the energy supply to the grid. The firm also made recommendations for changes to the regulatory framework, and outlined innovative business models for renewable energy production coupled with storage.
Jean-Yves Bellet of QOS Energy, said his firm had developed additional capabilities with regards to energy storage. “Our cloud-based O&M analytics platform can cope with the complex requirements brought by the combination of storage units with renewable energy plants.” Markets are still at the beginning of the storage revolution, he said, voicing a belief that open and flexible data management systems and storage technology will be a requisite to facilitate the large-scale integration of renewable energy into the grid.
