Next Kraftwerke

Founded in 2009 Next Kraftwerke is the operator of a large-scale Virtual Power Plant (VPP) and a certified power trader on different European exchange markets (e.g. EPEX and EEX). Our VPP bundles about 15,000 medium- and small-scale power producing and power consuming units. It includes among others generators such as biogas, wind, and solar. By interconnecting our clients’ units we have created a sizeable digital platform of flexible power producers and consumers. To put it in a nutshell: We are a power plant operator without any power plants. With our VPP we seize the chance that the value of power fluctuates 96 times a day. We are able to produce and consume electricity when prices are best for our clients (peak load operation resp. demand response). Our traders directly trade the aggregated power of the interconnected units on different energy exchange spot markets. In doing so, our VPP substantially contributes to stabilizing the grid by smartly distributing the power generated by the individual units in times of peak load (control reserve). We thereby rely on the activation of the flexibility which some renewables possess, e.g. biogas, biomass and hydro power plants. To us renewables do not per se equate with unpredictability. On the contrary, as specialists for short term trading, Next Kraftwerke makes the flexibility of renewables a profitable asset. Next Kraftwerke’s VPP interconnects different types of renewables and flexible power consumers so that each unit supports the other: The wind calms and, thus, the wind farm isn’t producing any power? The biogas plant takes over its role. Thus, Next Kraftwerke finds solutions to some of the key challenges of transforming the global energy system towards renewable energies. Operating today in all parts of Germany, Next Kraftwerke’s headquarter is in Cologne (North Rhine Westphalia). Since 2014 Next Kraftwerke has also begun to set up its VPP in Austria (2014), Belgium (2014) and France (2015).