21.10.2014, 10:00
| Media release
Lausanne - In Switzerland, Alpiq is the largest provider of balancing energy from waste processing facilities. The pooling of balancing energy is an example for decentralised energy management, which is increasingly establishing itself with industrial and commercial companies. Therefore, within the framework of its realignment, Alpiq will further expand its balancing energy pool in order to strengthen its decentralised energy management.
Profitable customer solutions thanks to energy management and reliable technologies
In cooperation with Swiss waste processing facilities (WPF), Alpiq markets approximately 450 GWh of electricity from own generation sources. In addition, Alpiq offers the energy from the WPFs on the market for balancing loads, for which it operates the largest balancing energy pool for decentralised electricity producers in Switzerland. Moreover, Alpiq provides the WPFs with the additional opportunity to offer their energy on the market for balancing loads within the Alpiq pool. The Swiss transmission grid operator Swissgrid created this market in 2009, in order to be able to use balancing energy to compensate for shortfalls or excess energy in the electricity grid. The WPFs are able to flexibly decrease or increase their electricity generation and are thus ideally suited for the balancing energy market.
Together with six large WPFs, including Kebag in Zuchwil and Limeco in Dietikon, Alpiq pools their electricity generation capacities. The WPFs in the pool have an electrical power of more than 50 MW, which corresponds to the output of two medium-sized run-of-river power stations. Thanks to their flexibility, the WPFs can make a significant contribution towards grid stability and to balancing supply and demand within the electricity grid. Participating in the electricity and balancing energy market offers the WPFs an added value without affecting their operations.
This approach, working already reliably for the WPFs, will also establish itself with other industrial and commercial companies. Within the framework of its realignment, Alpiq will further expand this service and is actively involved in setting up further cooperation projects with decentralised energy producers, but also with end consumers. Thus, over 1000 customers, which are already using the Xamax load optimising system, will soon benefit from these new opportunities and achieve not only cost and energy savings, but also generate additional revenue.
Alpiq's balancing energy pool is a tangible and important step towards efficient energy management.
Alpiq will provide more in-depth information about balancing energy pooling at a trade conference on 22 October 2014. The conference will be held as part of the Smart Energy Days, organised by the Association of Swiss Electricity Producers (VSE) and held on 22/23 October 2014 at the Trafo congress centre in Baden.