NGEN showcases solutions at BEF 2025 for decentralized electricity grid of tomorrow

Slovenia-based NGEN, widely regarded as the most innovative energy company in the SEE region, is expanding throughout Europe with its software platforms and equipment, as well as battery energy storage systems for decentralized grids that enable scaling up the decarbonization of the electricity sector. Co-Founder and CEO Roman Bernard said at the Belgrade Energy Forum 2025 that the company is establishing a digital endpoint for every network element. It enables real-time control over production and consumption, preventing blackouts and providing cybersecurity. At the conference, NGEN presented its services for the construction and operation of BESS and access to all segments of the electricity market.

In NGEN’s vision, the electricity system becomes fully digital and decentralized, with every house and business taking an active part in it.

Grid congestion is becoming more frequent, limiting the current rapid deployment of renewables. Most of Europe has centralized networks, where energy flows in one direction, from large power plants to consumers. Grid balancing is still conducted on a 15-minute basis, which is too slow for real-time demand.

NGEN has created platforms for energy that is produced, stored and consumed locally. It is developing a more efficient and reliable environment that can keep up with the scaling up of renewable energy technologies.

NGEN has answers for all challenges of power system

The Slovenia-based company is tackling all current challenges that the power system is facing, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Roman Bernard said at Belgrade Energy Forum – BEF 2025. NGEN, the technology sponsor of this year’s conference, operates in nine European countries.

Pointing to the pace of increase in solar and wind power plant capacity over the past years, Bernard said a centralized system wouldn’t be able to support the overall production and consumption anymore. “We want to make a digital endpoint for every unit that is included in the network. Through it we can communicate and raise or decrease consumption or production,” he explained.

Bernard: Cybersecurity is the most important part of digitalization

It enables control over the system, as otherwise it is in risk of blackouts, while such a transformation also brings significant savings in infrastructure, according to Bernard. He also stressed cybersecurity as the most important part of digitalization.

The CEO of NGEN, which stands for next generation, added that the sector needs to be further regulated across Europe to facilitate the construction of a new kind of infrastructure, as well as to motivate the corporate sector to get involved.

Instant frequency response preventing cascading blackouts

In Bernard’s view, now is the time for battery energy storage systems (BESS), after a massive renewables capacity was added to the system in the last seven or eight years. The CEO was one of the panelists at BEF 2025 in a session on flexibility services called Market Flexibility: The Backbone of a Resilient Energy System.

NGEN developed its own software as well as hardware for running decentralized systems, cybersecurity and access to all segments of the energy market. The software has never gone down so far, its representatives said during their presentation at the conference. The firm is a contractor for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of BESS, also providing maintenance and operation.

Its intelligent software ESGP, Energy Smart Grid Platform, provides instant frequency response preventing cascading blackouts. NGEN’s digital platform, called SG Connect, reacts automatically, providing backup in the event of a failure in under 20 milliseconds, enabling real-time grid balancing. At the same time, it monitors and manages in two-second intervals, through the NGEN Synaptic artificial intelligence (AI controller).

It is a plug-and-play module, installed at energy assets, connecting them to ESGP, the transmission system operator (TSO) and all relevant markets, the company said. On the customer side is the SG Connect application.

NGEN has projects of 2 GWh in Europe under development or in construction. As for notable operational facilities, it installed a BESS in Kidričevo in Slovenia, with 35 MW in operating power and 70 MWh in capacity. The facility is about to get an extension of 70 MW – 140 MWh.