French renewable energy aggregator CNR is working with a Germany technology company to optimise its portfolio of wind and photovoltaic assets in a virtual power plant (VPP). Energy & Meteo Systems, which provides renewable energy forecasting and VPP software will stop and restart CNR’s wind and solar power plants in case of negative prices. The virtual power station platform will allow CNR to profitably market its power in the increasingly dynamic French energy market by managing and trading the production of renewable energy portfolios on day-ahead and intraday markets. In addition to operating its own renewable energy plants and marketing their output, CNR has been an aggregator in France since 2012, working for other owners of clean energy generators CNR energy department director Pierre-Jean Grangette said: ““Renewable assets benefiting from the French new Feed-In-Premium mechanism must be curtailed during negative EPEX Spot prices. “Using the services of Energy & Meteo Systems, CNR can automatically curtail solar and wind energy production when negative prices occur.” Energy & Meteo Systems’ VPP platform connects, monitors and controls a set of decentralised power-generating units in CNR’s direct-marketing portfolio. The platform provides real-time production data of all assets. With its remote-control feature, the VPP controls the connected plants allowing CNR to adjust power production within seconds to market demands and matching it with the traded schedule.
Energy & Meteo Systems (E&MS) is to provide renewable energy forecasting and virtual power plant (VPP) software to French aggregator CNR, which will use the technology to manage and trade its renewable energy production on day-ahead and intraday markets in a bid to improve profitability. The company has signed an agreement with EADS Astrium for €100 million ($125 million) of financing over three years from next year.