Combination solar, battery, AI and dynamic contract: this Dutch company solves green power problem with it

Jan 19, 2024

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With a combination of solar panels, a battery, smart software and a dynamic energy contract, companies can solve many green electricity feed-in problems. By doing so, they reduce congestion and overloading of the grid, problems that now prevent some from getting a new grid connection. They can also make money from their own green electricity.

So says the Dutch company Kiwatt. The company provides energy storage systems and software based on artificial intelligence (AI). If necessary, Kiwatt can also provide solar panels. Recently, it also started offering its customers dynamic energy contracts. "That completes the picture for an efficient energy system," says director Jacob van Leeuwen.

Problems on the Dutch electricity grid are a major obstacle to the switch to green power, the so-called energy transition. On sunny days with a lot of wind, the electricity grid cannot process the supply and solar and wind farms are shut down. New wind and solar farms, as well as businesses with solar panels on their roofs, cannot be connected to the grid due to lack of capacity. Meanwhile, businesses and consumers continue to use electricity mainly at times when it is not being generated sustainably. Expanding and strengthening the grid will take years and cost billions, according to the operators. As a result, polluting gas and coal-fired power plants remain necessary to supplement.

Kiwatt believes it can offer a solution to these problems. The company has extensive experience in the world of ICT and electrification and is active in all pillars of the energy market. It helps companies store excess solar power from the roof in the batteries provided, ranging in capacity from 30 kilowatts to 800 kilowatts. SME entrepreneurs can thus save on a new or larger connection to the grid. Van Leeuwen emphasizes that although Kiwatt's batteries contain Chinese cells, they are otherwise assembled entirely in the Netherlands. That rarely happens.

The smart software ensures that the battery automatically charges at times when there is a lot of green power and the power price on the power exchanges is cheap or even negative. It discharges when the demand for power is high and the price is high. That fluctuates throughout the day, so trading on the imbalance market can be quite creditable. "That way, the battery can be recouped within just a few years," Van Leeuwen explains. "It also prevents peaks in supply and demand on the grid and thus grid congestion."

To do this, however, consumers and businesses need dynamic power contracts. According to the Authority Consumer & Market (), almost 133,000 households had such a contract at the end of last year. Thereby, the tariff changes per hour. Through a cooperation with supplier EnergyZero, Kiwatt can also offer the fourth element of an efficient energy system.

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