The power of many

My Power Plant +32 (0) 2 342 02 68
Betreiber steht vor seinem Notstromaggregat mit welchem er Regelenergie über das Virtuelle Kraftwerk von Next Kraftwerke bereitstellt.

Emergency power gensets
Benefits instead of costs from your emergency power generator

Emergency power generators often have an untapped source of income: By generating electricity at short notice that can be used to stabilise the power grid. As the operator of one of the largest virtual power plants in Europe, we offer you the opportunity to provide control energy with your emergency power generator and thus turn a cost factor into an additional source of income. And all this without any additional effort or investment costs.

Reserve Power
Sell reserve power from your emergency genset(s)

Fluctuations in the electricity grid are increasing due to the fluctuating supply of wind and solar energy. If, for example, the current electricity consumption exceeds the electricity production, this must be compensated by capacity reserves - so-called positive control energy. Your emergency power generator can easily supply such capacity reserves, provided it has a minimum output of 250 kW and can run synchronous with the grid frequency.

Additional revenues: You achieve attractive revenues with your emergency generator and thus turn a cost factor into a source of income.

Service-oriented: We take care of the connection of your emergency power to the virtual power plant and carry out the test procedure for the control energy, the prequalification, for you.

Safety: Your genset continues to serve its primary function, of course. Emergency operation always takes precedence over control energy calls.

Restrictions: You can also limit the operating hours of your genset to a defined call time per year.

Tertiary reserve capacity balances the fluctuations of the network after a delay of 15 minutes. The TSO measures the frequency and places commands to call capacities. In order to this, your genset(s) have to react latest 15 minutes after the activation signal. As most emergency gensets have a starting time of only a few seconds this should be no problem. The network operator Elia buys two different mFRR products: R3 standard and R3 flex. The first can be activated for up to 8 hours per day, while the second can be activated for maximum 2 hours continuously – between two activations there has to be a pause of at least 12 hours. The grid operator pays a capacity fee for both products, but only the R3 standard entitles the grid operator to an energy fee.

Notstromaggregat Dortmund

My Power Plant
Always up to date via app and PC

My Power Plant is our customer portal that you can use on your PC or via app on your smartphone. In the customer portal, you can view and manage the status of your emergency generator, edit data, and download invoices.

Calls: You can be notified about reserve power calls of your emergency generator.

Fault notification: In the event of faults, you will also receive notifications via the app on request.

Maintenance times: You can conveniently register maintenance and repair times via the portal.

FAQ Emergency Power Gensets
Frequently asked questions

Here you will find answers to many questions concerning the integration of your emergency generator into the virtual power plant. We will also be happy to answer your questions personally. Just get in touch with us!

  • What basic requirements must an emergency generator meet in order to be integrated into the virtual power plant?

    The basic prerequisite for integrating the system is grid parallelism. This means that the emergency generator must be connected in parallel to the power grid so that it can feed into the distribution grid. In addition, a genset should have an output of at least 250 kW, or even better 350 kW, so that integration into the Next Pool is worthwhile for you.

  • How is it ensured that the emergency generator is available in case of emergency?

    The basic principle for connecting an emergency generator to the virtual power plant is that the emergency generator continues to serve its original purpose. The connection to the Next Pool is merely an opportunity to generate revenues where previously there were only costs. The remote control unit is switched in such a way that emergency operation always has priority over control energy calls. However, the operator can also intervene manually at any time. If the operator can foresee the use of the emergency generator, this must be reported and a control energy call must be excluded for the corresponding time.

  • How will my emergency generator be integrated into the virtual power plant?

    In order to sell the capacity of your genset successfully on the reserve power market, a connection to the Virtual Power Plant via the Next Box is necessary. If the transmission system operator activates a certain amount of reserve capacity, our control system automatically determines the best operating plan and schedules the systems in the Next Pool accordingly. The Next Box is your link to the virtual power plant. Communication between your genset plant and our control system takes place via a secure mobile connection that meets a legally prescribed requirement for the telecontrol capacity of a plant. The Next Box also enables you to operate your system according to a price-based scheme, which opens up additional trading opportunities.

  • Are there any problems expected with fuel delivery?

    No, in principle no bottlenecks are to be expected in fuel supply, as call-offs are usually quite short (usually only a few minutes per call-off). In addition, at times when longer call-offs are expected, which usually occurs during holidays such as Easter and Christmas, the maximum duration of the call-offs can be limited by the control system.

Numbers & Facts

Aggregated Units

15 346

Q4/2022

Networked Capacity

12 294

MW Q4 2022

Volume of traded energy

15.1

TWh in 2019

Employees

300

Locations

9

Foundation

2009

Next Pool
Gensets

All services under one roof

Next Kraftwerke brings all the experts together under one roof to successfully market your emergency power: our engineers, technicians and negotiators work closely with our sales and customer service team to ensure the best possible results in the electricity market.

  • David Schmich Next Kraftwerke

    Reserve Power Trading - 24/7

    We trade the reserve power of your emergency power generators around the clock and seven days a week - with all our experience and our technical background. We use the data from each plant of the virtual power plant for our forecasts. Together with the forecasts of our in-house meteorologist we achieve a particularly efficient reserve power marketing.

    David Schmich, Team Lead Portfoliomanagement and Origination

  • Paul Kreutzkamp is CEO at Next Kraftwerke Belgium.

    We advise you on location

    We come to you: We advise you personally and individually on all questions concerning the tradingof electricity and reserve power from your CHP. We analyse your marketing options and revenue potential and find a tailor-made way to sell your electricity.

    Paul Kreutzkamp, CEO Next Kraftwerke Belgium

  • We take care of your business

    At our customer service department, you do not end up in either queue. Our service is competent and personalized. We deal with your requests quickly and uncomplicatedly, whether it concerns communication with the network operator or billing issues. For all technical questions, our technical service is at your disposal.

    Asma Beheshti, Operations Manager

  • Burak Cicekli from Next Kraftwerke.

    We connect your genset to the Virtual Power Plant

    Our experienced team of technicians and engineers will quickly adapt to your requirements and bring your emergency power generator into the virtual power plant. This way you can quickly and easily fulfil the basis for good conditions for marketing your reserve power with us.

    Burak Cicekli, Technical Project Manager

  • Jonas Fluhr Next Kraftwerke

    We continuously develop the customer platform further

    To ensure that our customer portal "My Power Plant" precisely meets the requirements of the plant operators, it was completely designed and implemented in-house by our development team. This also enables us to continuously integrate new features and further develop "My Power Plant" so that our customers can derive the greatest possible benefit from it.

    Jonas Fluhr, Head of IT Systems and Services