e2m and Savon Voima Announce Virtual Power Plant Technology Partnership - Bringing Access to Demand-side Management

VPPs are currently gaining momentum in the Finnish energy market that is evolving rapidly: Trying to free Finland of its dependence on energy imports, the production with renewables is growing considerably. This is where VPP operators like e2m are opening new opportunities for decentralized generators and flexible consumption to participate fully in the market.

"In these challenging new markets, we want to be the trusted, reliable and innovative partners for our customers who can steer them through the revenue options available and help them to extract the maximum value possible. We also view the cooperation as valuable contribution to Finnish and EU-climate targets," says Arto Sutinen, CEO of Savon Voima Group. And Sevastos Kavanozis, Managing Director for International Markets at e2m, adds: "The VPP is part of today's energy revolution as it plays an integral part in the digitalized and decentralized European energy market."

Precise data opens new market opportunities  

Savon Voima and e2m will especially focus on optimizing energy production and consumption for purposes of demand side management or balancing services. "By providing reliable and controllable production through VPP management, generators and prosumers can contribute to balancing the fluctuating energy in power grids, a topic that is gaining increasing importance in Finland," says Sutinen.

The energy market in Finland is prone to fluctuation as the capacity of volatile energy, such as wind power, increases. In order to keep the whole power system stable, network operator Fingrid Oyj actively regulates flexible production and consumption. The collaboration between e2m and Savon Voima provides enterprises and flexible energy consumers in Finland the possibility to bid flexible consumption and power production to the balancing and reserve markets, maintained and actively developed by Fingrid Oyj.

"Customers who have such flexible capacity can turn this into profit together with us. Active interventions will not only keep the power system in balance, but also allow the increase of carbon-free energy production and sufficient utilization of the power system in general," says Sutinen.

Profound knowledge of the Finnish market and for the Finnish market 

"It is important to know and consider the respective national practice and market structures," emphasises Kavanozis. "This is where Savon Voima complements our technical competence perfectly."

Since 2009, e2m has successfully developed its Virtual Power Plant (VPP) and now has over 3,500 technical units connected in Germany, Poland, Austria, Italy and Finland. e2m's focus is on growing the business Europewide and becoming the leading reserve and balancing energy innovator in Finland and the Nordpool area. "This partnership with Savon Voima is a great opportunity to expand our business area. By combining our skills in forecasting, controlling and balancing energy, we can bring real value to our customers," adds Kavanozis.

The Savon Voima Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Savon Energiaholding Oy, which is owned by 20 municipalities. With its net sales of approx. EUR 184,8 million (2016), the company is one of the largest sellers of energy services in Finland. The Group employs about 177 professionals in the field, in addition to which we employ about 300 persons through our partners in co-operation.

The roots of Savon Voima are in Northern and Central Savo, where the company's electricity and district heating networks, substations, power plants and heating plants provide energy services to 117,203 places of electricity use and to 3,003 district heat connections. With its annual investments of approx. EUR 57 million, the Group is the most significant investor and maintainer of energy infrastructure in the area. www.savonvoima.fi

As an independent trading company operating throughout Europe, Energy2market GmbH (e2m) specializes in managing and optimizing dynamic portfolios and marketing the flexibility derived from decentralized generation and consumption systems. With a marketed generation capacity of renewable energy of more than 3,400 MW, e2m is one of the biggest providers of market access services in Germany. It has the infrastructure required for marketing flexibility as well as access to all German and to international trading markets. As an international group, e2m has subsidiaries in Poland, Austria, Italy and Scandinavia. Read more: www.e2m.energy