Ferroamp proceeds in development of ancillary services

Following the activation of the first bidding portfolio of Ferroamp systems in the balancing market, Ferroamp now intends, together with Ntricity, to submit documentation for pre-qualification in all bidding areas and to develop collaborations with more electricity companies. The development of ancillary services means that energy storage is becoming an increasingly important strategic area for Ferroamp.

“The fact that the development of ancillary services is growing so much is particularly important at a time when the market for solar energy remains weak. Batteries can now be good business for customers both with and without solar cells,” says Kent Jonsson, CEO, Ferroamp.

It was in mid-February that Ferroamp’s and Ntricity’s solution for selling ancillary services was approved by Svenska kraftnät in bidding area 3. In mid-March, the first bid was made on the balancing market with Ferroamp systems connected via Varberg Energi’s Flex Battery service. The aggregated systems thus constitute one of only three Virtual Power Plants (VPP) that are active in the market in Sweden where homeowners can participate with battery capacity.

Ntricity and Ferroamp intend to continue to develop the portfolio in bidding area three and now also submit documentation for pre-qualification in bidding area 4. Customers can already submit an expression of interest to Varberg Energi regardless of where in the country they are located, as the ambition is to gather systems to create portfolios in all bidding areas. In connection with the pre-qualification, Ferroamp will also start developing collaborations with more electricity companies to open up the opportunity to sell ancillary services for their customers as well.

In addition to controlling solar production and energy storage, the Ferroamp system is also used to optimize electric car charging. Right now, the company’s first own electric car charger is being field tested, which is a bidirectional DC-DC charger that can be used to feed electricity from the electric car battery into the grid, so-called vehicle-to-grid. The plan is that the electric car charger can also be used for ancillary services.

“The strength of our system is the flexibility and how we provide added value to the customer in terms of solar energy, energy storage and electric car charging. We plan to develop all these pillars in the coming year and ancillary services will be a priority in these areas,” says Kent Jonsson.