The energy industry is undergoing profound change. While the share of renewable energies is growing steadily, their volatile feed-in poses major challenges for grid operators and energy suppliers. In balance group management in particular, it is becoming clear that conventional forecasting methods and control mechanisms are increasingly reaching their limits.

Balancing energy as a cost driver

One of the biggest challenges is the discrepancy between predicted and actual electricity consumption or feed-in. Energy suppliers are obliged to compensate for these discrepancies by purchasing balancing energy. This is a process that involves high costs.

There are many reasons for these discrepancies:

• Fluctuations in generation: Photovoltaic and wind power plants produce energy depending on the weather and time of day, so they do not always generate exactly as predicted.
• Unpredictable consumption: The electrification of heating and mobility is leading to new load profiles that are difficult to predict.
• Lack of real-time control: Many energy suppliers are unable to respond to deviations at short notice.

The greater the deviations, the higher the costs for balancing energy. This creates a financial burden that is unsustainable in the long term.

Pilot projects: Balance group optimization with the VGT platform

To meet these challenges, we have launched a pilot project in collaboration with several cantonal and municipal energy suppliers. The aim is to test and evaluate the possibilities for automated balance group optimization.

Project objectives and approach

The pilot project is investigating how the use of intelligent control systems affects balance group management. The key questions are:

• How can deviations in the balance group be minimized in real time?

• What role do flexible consumers and producers play in grid stability?

• What savings potential can be achieved through targeted optimization?

Technical approach: The VGT device manager as a control unit

The VGT device manager is at the heart of the project. This platform enables decentralized energy generators, storage facilities, and flexible consumers to be integrated into a higher-level control system.

How the device manager works in the pilot project

• Connection and control of up to 50 devices via preconfigured modems

• Real-time monitoring of generation and consumption

• Automatic schedule control and live signals (IEC104) for load shifting

• Optimization of the balance group through intelligent control algorithms

These mechanisms are being used to test how effectively short-term deviations can be compensated and whether this can reduce long-term costs for balancing energy.

Once the projects have been completed, the findings will be used to further develop the platform and improve optimization opportunities for energy suppliers.

Current forecasts show that savings of up to 52% in balancing energy may be possible. We are making some of our results available to interested partners.