NGEN’s Bernard: There is no smart grid without smart users

A regulated market is the most important factor for NGEN Group, which helps grid operators overcome the challenges of balancing, integrating renewables and digitalization, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Roman Bernard said at Belgrade Energy Forum. “The energy sector needs smart grids, and a smart grid does not exist without smart users,” he pointed out.

Slovenia-based energy solutions and digitalization provider NGEN Group is present in nine countries in Europe. Speaking at Belgrade Energy Forum, its Co-founder and CEO Roman Bernard highlighted the role of battery systems in balancing renewables and their integration into the electricity grid.

The company helps transmission and distribution system operators in areas where they all face challenges in the current era of green transformation, he asserted. “We can do a lot of good things on the grid with batteries”, said Bernard, one of the main panelists at the event. Belgrade Energy Forum, held earlier this month, gathered more than 500 participants from 30 countries from across the globe.

“A regulated market is the most important thing for us to implement all this. So that we are all motivated and so that we can cooperate. Because the energy sector needs smart grids, and a smart grid does not exist without smart users. The grid exists for the participants in the grid,” in the words of the head of NGEN Group.

More challenges are coming, particularly in cyber security, in the segments of grid digitalization and decentralization, he underscored.

Big systems to lose control over grid

It made sense to establish NGEN Group and operate in the sector only after the establishment of the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) and the introduction of joint regulations, according to Bernard.

“The grid used to operate top-down – there was the production, and then all users consumed the power. Everything goes in both directions now and big systems will lose their control over the grid. I think it will be discussed a lot,” he stated.

NGEN Group has just reached an agreement with Uniper on a project for a 50 MW battery with 100 MWh in capacity at the site of the German utility’s hard coal-fired Heyden power plant. The facility is scheduled for closure at the end of the third quarter.