The smart grid has taken a significant step forwards as Reactive Technologies and Danfoss A/S announce successful trials of a new demand-side management (DSM) service. The new service, called Tradenergy, allows major UK food retailers and supermarkets to have their energy remotely managed in such a way that it creates value by unlocking previously unavailable energy revenue streams.
Tradenergy offers a secure software platform that combines powerful communications technology with secure, cloud-based software to remotely adjust the power usage of commercial and industrial customers’ electronic assets – from heating, ventilation and air conditioning units, to refrigeration and freezer systems.
By aggregating potentially hundreds of thousands of electronic assets, such as refrigeration and HVAC devices, across multiple retail sites, Reactive Technologies can accurately, reliably and safely control a customer’s energy consumption in real-time. This provides cost savings through the avoidance of peak tariff energy charges, generates new risk-free revenue streams and offers protection against future energy price rises.
The new service also allows customers to reduce their carbon footprints by avoiding the use of standby diesel generators when asked to do so by a network operator during times of peak demand or grid stress.
Danfoss A/S has worked closely with Reactive Technologies to ensure the Tradenergy DSM platform can seamlessly integrate with Danfoss controls. Danfoss has developed functionality that enables demand shifting in a supermarket refrigeration system while securing food quality. The roll-out of these technologies working together is now successfully delivering cost savings and additional revenue streams for some of its largest UK supermarket customers.
Cost energy shifts without any disruption to operations
Commenting on the new service, Lars Overby, vice president R&D, Danfoss Electronic Controllers & Services said: “We are impressed by Reactive Technologies’ DSM technology. Following extensive trials with leading UK food retailers and supermarket chains, we have been able to deliver real cost effective energy shifts without any disruption to operations. During one trial, our controls managed over a thousand DSM ‘events’, allowing the Tradenergy service to shift energy consumption for up to two-and-a-half hours without any operational impact to the customer.
DSM will become a new and interesting revenue stream for commercial and industrial customers, particularly large energy users such as major supermarkets. By introducing DSM as an extra benefit to the Danfoss ADAP-KOOL refrigeration control system we take the next step from ‘energy efficiency’ to ‘energy effectiveness’ to the benefit of the supermarket owners.”
CEO and co-founder of Reactive Technologies, Marc Borrett said: “To date the energy industry has focussed on large individual assets such as back-up generators to provide balancing services to the national grid. However, we believe that major supermarkets, for example have far greater capacity in their refrigeration and HVAC systems. Our role is to unlock this potential and create financial value through our Tradenergy DSM service.
“Our company heritage and cloud platform comes from the mobile communications sector, where managing millions of individual devices is an everyday reality. We are now applying this communications capability, along with some new technologies to the energy industry and major energy users with key global controls partners, such as Danfoss.”
Facts about Tradenergy DSM platform:
· Refrigeration and HVAC devices controlled through new demand-side management tool allow flexible energy shifting and smart energy management for major food retailers
· Reactive Technologies’ Tradenergy DSM platform uniquely avoids the restrictions of traditional demand-side management (DSM) services
· Patented, secure cloud-based technology offers unlimited scalability across large food retail sites and the ability to control each individual device
· Next-generation demand management offers a genuine zero carbon energy management service without the need for back-up diesel generators
