1st Workshop on Business Models for Renewable Energy Aggregators, Brussels, Belgium

On Tuesday, September 27th 2016, more than 40 participants attended the 1^st Workshop on Business Models for Renewable Energy Aggregators held at 3E headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.  The event represented a unique opportunity to obtain an overview of the existing framework and business models available in Europe for the aggregation of renewable energy sources and explore the benefits from collaborating with the aggregators

 

The event was organized by WIP – Renewable Energies in the framework of the European project BestRES and hosted by 3E.

The organizers were happy to welcome to the workshop the most relevant stakeholders operating in the field of RES aggregation:  EC representatives, electric power industry associations, consumer associations, grid operators and renewable energy aggregators.

During the workshop, the BestRES partners had the opportunity to present the results obtained during the first seven months of the project. The workshop was very interactive. The participants provided valuable input during the workshop´s sessions and the panel discussion.

The objectives of the workshop were:

• Obtain an overview of the existing business models available in Europe for the aggregation of renewable energy sources
• Provide the relevant stakeholders with the benefits from collaborating with aggregators, and the evaluation of regulatory, legal and technical barriers for deployment of the business models
• Provide detailed information on energy services downstream developed by the aggregators for industrial, commercial or domestic customers whom own generation and storage units or can offer demand response
• Highlight the values created by aggregators to the market players upstream such as BRPs, DSOs, TSOs and energy suppliers to optimize their portfolio and for balancing and congestion management

Towards the fulfillment of those commitments, the following relevant speakers, and moderators were invited to share their experiences with the participants throughout the different sessions of the Workshop.

 

Introduction – Business models for RES aggregators

Overview on the BestRES project – Silvia Caneva, Senior Project Manager, WIP–Renewable Energies

Aggregator business models & benefits of RES aggregation – Ruben Verhaegen, Expert Grids & Power Markets, 3E

Barriers for RES aggregation – Fabian Pause, Legal Expert, SUER

 

Session I – RES aggregation for balancing and congestion management of the energy system

Commission’s introduction and remarks for the session – Manuel Sánchez, Team Leader Smart Grids, DG Energy, EC

The point of view of the electricity industry – Marion Labatut, Wholesale & Retail Market issues, EURELECTRIC

Distribution Systems, an opportunity for Aggregators – Didier Halkin, Settlement Processes & Balancing Products, ORES

Energy services for balancing and congestion management of the energy system  – Paul Kreutzkamp, Managing Director, Next Kraftwerke Belgium

 

Session II – RES aggregators as providers of flexible and competitive electricity supply

How to facilitate engagement of domestic consumers in the electricity market? – Jörg Mühlenhoff, Project Coordinator on Renewable Energy, BEUC

The needs of the industrial electricity consumers – Mukund Bhagwat, Corporate Energy & Climate Affairs, Aurubis and IFIEC

Providing flexible and competitive electricity supply to consumers – Maximilian Kloess, Expert Power Economics & Trading, oekostrom AG

Panel discussion on the benefits of energy storage, demand response and RES aggregation Discussion moderated by Frauke Thies, Executive Director of Smart Energy Demand Coalition – SEDC

Panelists:

–      Manuel Sánchez, DG Energy, EC

–      Marion Labatut, Eurelectric

–      Didier Halkin, ORES

–      Sebastien Mortier, INEA, EC

–      Jörg Mühlenhoff, BEUC

–      Mukund Bhagwat, Aurubis & IFIEC

 

The minutes of the workshop are available at this link.

9 November 2016