Page 39 - European Energy Innovation - Summer 2015 publication
P. 39
Summer 2015 European Energy Innovation 39
SMART GRIDS
Demand Response Markets in
Europe Begin to Blossom
REstore raises $7.5M to serve new markets in the U.K., France and possibly Germany.
The opportunities for its total capital raised to €11 CAPACITY MARKETS BRING
demand response in million ($12.5 million), according U.S.-STYLE DEMAND RESPONSE
Europe are growing to Thursday’s announcement. TO BELGIUM, U.K. AND FRANCE
-- and REstore is raising REstore wants to grow its always- Capacity markets are one way to
money to grow with them. available portfolio to more than solve the issue of power plants
2 gigawatts by 2018, and “that’s being shut down, he said. That’s
On Thursday, the Antwerp, steep growth, and that requires the form of demand response
Belgium-based startup some capital,” co-CEO Jan-Willem pioneered in the United States
announced a €7 million ($7.5 Rombouts said in a Thursday by companies like EnerNOC
million) Series C capital round, to interview. and Comverge, in which these
expand operations from its home aggregators bid alongside power
country and the U.K. to France It’s also seeking to expand to “a plant operators to commit to
and Germany, and to beef up its European-wide scale,” he said, meeting future peaks in grid
data analysis and control platform to match an expanding set of energy demand, and then deliver
for the industrial and commercial opportunities for turning flexible on them years later.
customers it’s tapping for flexible loads like steel smelters, freezers,
electricity load. pumps, fans and manufacturing While the majority of U.S. demand
lines into grid resources. response is through capacity
In the past four years, REstore markets, Europe has just started
has grown from a few megawatts Europe’s demand response needs to create the structures that
of industrial load to more than aren’t driven by summertime allow demand-side resources to
1 gigawatt of peak load under peak loads as they are in the participate. Belgian transmission
management, serving more than United States. Europe does have system operator Elia got the ball
80 industrial customers including some wintertime electric heating rolling last year by opening up
Arcelor Mittal, Praxair, Sappi loads -- but the bigger drivers market bids for 2 gigawatts’ worth
and Barclays. Its revenues grew are the system-wide effects of of capacity to meet winter power
700 percent from 2013 to 2014, the continent’s growing share of shortfalls.
and since the end of last year, intermittent wind and solar power,
it’s increased its share of “95 REstore co-founder Pieter-Jan The U.K. held its first capacity
percent reliable” load from 250 Mermans said. auction in December, and while
megawatts to 350 megawatts -- a the lion’s share of the 45 gigawatts
measure of how much can offer “Our power plants are or so of winning bids went to
equal or better certainty than increasingly being mothballed. power plants instead of demand
natural-gas-fired power plants of That’s a trend that’s crystal clear, response, REstore also won some
being there for grid needs. and will not be reversed any of them, Mermans said. REstore
time soon,” he said. “Second, also competes against a host of
REstore’s new round, led by the penetration of intermittent demand response companies in
existing investors LRM, Axe renewables continues to grow, the U.K., including EnerNOC, Kiwi
Investments, Ark Angel Fund which means real-time volatility Power, Flexitricity, and Honeywell
and other individuals, brings on the grid.” and partner Stor Generation.
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
SMART GRIDS
Demand Response Markets in
Europe Begin to Blossom
REstore raises $7.5M to serve new markets in the U.K., France and possibly Germany.
The opportunities for its total capital raised to €11 CAPACITY MARKETS BRING
demand response in million ($12.5 million), according U.S.-STYLE DEMAND RESPONSE
Europe are growing to Thursday’s announcement. TO BELGIUM, U.K. AND FRANCE
-- and REstore is raising REstore wants to grow its always- Capacity markets are one way to
money to grow with them. available portfolio to more than solve the issue of power plants
2 gigawatts by 2018, and “that’s being shut down, he said. That’s
On Thursday, the Antwerp, steep growth, and that requires the form of demand response
Belgium-based startup some capital,” co-CEO Jan-Willem pioneered in the United States
announced a €7 million ($7.5 Rombouts said in a Thursday by companies like EnerNOC
million) Series C capital round, to interview. and Comverge, in which these
expand operations from its home aggregators bid alongside power
country and the U.K. to France It’s also seeking to expand to “a plant operators to commit to
and Germany, and to beef up its European-wide scale,” he said, meeting future peaks in grid
data analysis and control platform to match an expanding set of energy demand, and then deliver
for the industrial and commercial opportunities for turning flexible on them years later.
customers it’s tapping for flexible loads like steel smelters, freezers,
electricity load. pumps, fans and manufacturing While the majority of U.S. demand
lines into grid resources. response is through capacity
In the past four years, REstore markets, Europe has just started
has grown from a few megawatts Europe’s demand response needs to create the structures that
of industrial load to more than aren’t driven by summertime allow demand-side resources to
1 gigawatt of peak load under peak loads as they are in the participate. Belgian transmission
management, serving more than United States. Europe does have system operator Elia got the ball
80 industrial customers including some wintertime electric heating rolling last year by opening up
Arcelor Mittal, Praxair, Sappi loads -- but the bigger drivers market bids for 2 gigawatts’ worth
and Barclays. Its revenues grew are the system-wide effects of of capacity to meet winter power
700 percent from 2013 to 2014, the continent’s growing share of shortfalls.
and since the end of last year, intermittent wind and solar power,
it’s increased its share of “95 REstore co-founder Pieter-Jan The U.K. held its first capacity
percent reliable” load from 250 Mermans said. auction in December, and while
megawatts to 350 megawatts -- a the lion’s share of the 45 gigawatts
measure of how much can offer “Our power plants are or so of winning bids went to
equal or better certainty than increasingly being mothballed. power plants instead of demand
natural-gas-fired power plants of That’s a trend that’s crystal clear, response, REstore also won some
being there for grid needs. and will not be reversed any of them, Mermans said. REstore
time soon,” he said. “Second, also competes against a host of
REstore’s new round, led by the penetration of intermittent demand response companies in
existing investors LRM, Axe renewables continues to grow, the U.K., including EnerNOC, Kiwi
Investments, Ark Angel Fund which means real-time volatility Power, Flexitricity, and Honeywell
and other individuals, brings on the grid.” and partner Stor Generation.
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
