The Polish subsidiary of virtual-power-plant operator Next Kraftwerke, based in Warsaw, has contracted more than 1000 MW of renewables generation capacity for the coming year. The portfolio consists of wind power, photovoltaics, and biogas, with the largest share being wind power generation. The generators under management that will be connected to the central control system of the virtual power plant in the coming months range in size from small generators with a capacity of less than 1 MW to the largest Polish wind farm with a capacity of 118 MW.
Some of the contracted assets are operated outside the Polish renewable energy auction system and are supplied with PPA contracts by Next Kraftwerke. Others are auction winners that are offered an offtaking agreement and management of the subsidy settlement. In either case Next Kraftwerke assumes full responsibility for forecasting, trading, the fulfilment of the obligations under the System Operation Guideline (SOGL), and balancing group management for its customers.
Next Kraftwerke, which is owned by Shell, started operations in Poland in 2016. The Polish market has emerged as one of those where Next Kraftwerke is most active with its services for renewable electricity trading; and it is possible the market will open up soon for the delivery of control reserve from networked distributed generators, a field where Next Kraftwerke expects to be active with its virtual power plant.
Shell completed its acquisition of Next Kraftwerke in August. It became a wholly owned subsidiary within Shell Energy’s Trading & Supply business.
