FAN (Flexiblepower Alliance Network) and TNO have been working on Energy Flexibility Interfaces for many years. This resulted in the S2 standard, which is promoted by the S2 consortium. S2 is an an official European standard for energy management, EN 50491-12-2, and can be used with smart devices such as heat pumps, EV chargers and solar panel inverters. Please find more information on the S2 website.
The energy transition has led to an increase in decentralised generation of power from solar and wind energy. As these forms of energy generation depend on the weather, they are supply driven, rather than demand driven. Demand for electricity is growing due to the increase in electric vehicles and the growing number of homes that only use electricity for heating.
These are great developments, but they can cause peaks and imbalances in the electricity grid. Solar parks provide a lot of energy at times when there is plenty of sunlight, e.g. in summer, but that is exactly when there is little demand for such energy. This creates peaks in grid imbalance; since supply exceeds demand. The reverse is possible as well: demand outweighing supply. Coping with these peaks and imbalances calls for a more flexible energy system. This has made flexibility in the energy system increasingly important.
Flexibility offers the possibility of matching supply and demand more effectively, in an affordable and accessible manner. Investments could then be prevented, postponed or reduced.
The FAN Foundation’s ambition is to make flexibility optimally available. We believe that developing open standards is very important. This will enable flexibility to be accessible to everyone in order to:
- unlock as much flexible energy as possible for all relevant equipment
- enable first-rate and cost-effective use of energy flexibility
- guarantee an open and fair energy system
- enable the owners of energy equipment to decide for themselves how they wish to use flexibility
- make flexibility attractive to end users
Flexibility is interesting for several different parties in the energy sector: parties involved in the development and management of the energy network, but also parties who want to optimise the effective use of sustainable energy at the lowest possible cost. Flexible energy also offers opportunities for parties who want to start new business models.
As far as cooperation is concerned, FAN’s particular focus is on the following groups:
- Policymakers
- Developers of Smart Grid services
- Producers of smart devices
- Grid operators and other parties who develop and operate smart grids
- Aggregators
- Architects and project developers
- Users of smart devices
- Consumers who generate their own energy, e.g. through solar panels
- Business end users who generate their own energy
FAN is looking for partnerships to unlock as much flexibility as possible. In doing so, we are mainly focusing on end consumers who have so far provided little flexibility. We would like to inform these end consumers about flexibility and the importance and possibilities of making flexibility available.
More information?
If you are interested in working with FAN to optimally integrate flexible energy into the energy system, feel free to contact us. We will be happy to meet you to discuss the possibilities.
