Nano Energies was licensed in December 2023 to provide services as an independent electricity aggregator in Romania through its local subsidiary Digital Energy Services Romania. The license represents an opportunity for companies interested in saving or gaining additional revenue by connecting to the so-called “virtual power plant” and also maximising the potential of their energy devices. The market entry of an aggregator such as Nano Energies gives a significant boost to the Romanian grid and helps to prevent power shortages in the system.

In simple terms, Nano Energies can remotely operate its customers’ equipment without being their electricity supplier. The company uses advanced consumption and production management technologies, which not only saves customers money, but also allows them to make additional profits. At the same time, the market entry of a flexibility aggregator gives the backbone of the grid – the transmission system – significant support to help prevent outages.

“The flexibility system provides additional revenue for many partners in sectors such as cogeneration, biogas, biomass, diesel generators, electric boilers, compressors, storage batteries and others,” explains Václav Těhle, CEO of Nano Energies, in a press release. “These opportunities exist almost everywhere electricity is generated, stored or consumed. Organisations can, by providing energy flexibility, access additional sources of revenue while contributing to grid stabilisation.”

Companies can save on electricity costs while helping to balance the grid.

Nano Energies technology helps customers to optimally manage their consumption or production without limiting their operating capacity. For most customers, revenue is achieved through short-term regulation of energy production, while ensuring flexibility from the grid. Relevant examples may be greenhouses or diesel generators. If a greenhouse reduces its lighting or heating for a few minutes, it can earn several tens of thousands of euros per year without any negative impact on the business. A diesel generator, used for standby flexibility, can provide an additional income of around 30-40,000 euros per year for 1 MW, contributing to a smart depreciation of equipment.

In addition, in all these cases, Nano Energies helps to keep the grid balanced and prevent power crises.

Today, energy systems are undergoing significant technological change worldwide, with fluctuating energy supply and rising prices. In this context, energy flexibility becomes an important part of the solution.

In a broad sense, energy flexibility refers to the continuous management of electricity consumption and production. Since electricity cannot be stored in large quantities and in a cost-effective way, intelligent control of renewable energy production is an effective solution for the stability of energy supply.

“As an independent electricity aggregator, we provide ancillary services to the power system. This is extremely important with the spread of renewable energy sources, which are naturally variable. Especially in summer, with the increase in solar parks, there is a significant risk of imbalance events for the power system. We can prevent this and even pave the way for more renewables, while helping to decarbonise the grid and accelerate and reduce the cost of the energy transformation we are experiencing in Romania. The immediate goals are to exceed a threshold of 35 MW in 2024,” concludes Václav Těhle.

In the UK, for example, flexibility aggregators accounted for 50% of grid balancing in 2020, and now the rest of Europe is following.

Nano Energies, originally from the Czech Republic, manages operations in three countries in the region – Czech Republic, Croatia and Romania, with the ambition to become a leader in technology services and power aggregation. In December 2023, flexibility aggregator Nano Energies was acquired by energy group Second Foundation, a Czech company that is also a European leader in algorithmic trading in electricity markets. By combining the know-how of the two companies, Nano Energies will be able to monetise customer assets not only through ancillary services but also by trading their flexibility on spot markets.