Green transition: ready for energy digitization | We Wealth
Applying technology to energy to make its processes and use more efficient. All of this, in an investment key. We talk about this with Regalgrid, an innovative Italian SME supported by Archeide Sicav, created with the aim of developing a sustainable and advanced system for the management of energy distribution.
The concept of energy digitization was born to address two basic requirements of the energy transition: having full awareness of one’s own consumption and having a widespread network of investments to optimize the return.
As an alternative fund that aims at innovation, “we wanted to include in our investment portfolio virtuous and far-sighted companies capable of taking concrete steps on the road to energy transition,” comments Alessandro Bruscagin, Archeide’s chief executive officer. “We found it in Regalgrid, with whom we have been collaborating since 2016.”
Regalgrid’s mission is to become the technological standard to enable a revolution that has been underway for a few years: that of energy digitization. We talk about it in detail in this interview with Roberto Vendramin, Cfo Regalgrid Europe.
What does energy digitization mean?
Digitization of energy means many things. First of all, we translate it into transparency and capillarity. Transparency, because we believe that energy consumption data should be available in real time: in order to make our society more efficient, people need to be aware of how they consume. This applies to everyone, whether they are residential, condominium, industrial, or public administration users (among the main beneficiaries of the measures included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan). Capillarity, because we believe that in addition to talking about and raising awareness of the topic of photovoltaics, we must begin to take concrete actions and capillary. In order to achieve concrete goals we need small actions, distributed and close to consumers, encouraging the generation of residential or small industrial photovoltaic on the territory.
What limitations exist in the renewable energy market today?
Dependent on natural sources, imbalances will always exist in terms of energy production capacity. However, it is necessary to monitor the relationship between how much energy is generated and how much is consumed from the outset to understand the power consumption profile. Energy digitization must make sure that energy deficits and surpluses meet and satisfy each other, optimizing consumption and production as much as possible. In the second analysis, it is necessary to make hardware from different manufacturers talk to each other. Regalgrid has the characteristic of being able to talk to the main producers of inverters, charging columns, heat pumps and storage. We have tried to put technology at the heart of new energy investments, adapting the service to different types of consumers and moving to support a community; we have done this by exploiting energy communities.
What does it mean for you to approach a net zero world?
Moving towards net zero means covering consumption with green energy. The problem is that the management of renewables cannot be delegated to the grid alone because of its inefficiencies: I am thinking of those in transport or in the process of voltage transformation, but also the problem of higher or lower generation in a given time slot.
Regalgrid’s efficient technology makes it possible to know immediately when there is available energy to be used in order to optimize its use. To do this, we use patented algorithms that monitor/certify the activity. Once the parameters are set, everything works automatically. User App and Portal serve to give complete transparency to users and stakeholders.
What are the economics behind an energy transition project?
As an investor, whether I am an individual, a condominium, a company, or a PA (public administration), if I invest money in a photovoltaic system, I need technology to optimize my Roi, Return-on-investment. If I invest in a PV system, I will have an impact in x years; if I use the resources in an energy community, the effect will be even more beneficial. The energy community maximizes the return on investment in a photovoltaic system and in storage, as well as decreasing and diversifying the risk of “missed consumption” among several users.
Second, if you want to enhance and monitor the value of your investments you need to know how much they move over time. This is also true when you incur an expenditure for efficiency: when the kpi of the investment worsens, you must implement changes to optimize the strategy.
Finally, the more flexible and intelligent the technology at your disposal, the more you can create new and efficient business models. In this case, we are talking about slightly longer investment times. The introduction of accumulators could avoid the unnecessary use of current energy and avoid blackout situations due to energy peaks at certain times.
In conclusion, what is the added value of energy communities?
The establishment of energy communities on the territory has a threefold value: on an environmental level, they reduce the carbon footprint of a territory; on a community level, they create new virtuous networks that lead to the creation of smart cities and smart grids; on a network level, they allow to optimize the installation of new photovoltaic generation without creating imbalances and inefficiencies. This is a path that, both in terms of reputation (marketing) and in terms of environmental and social impact has enormous added value.
Regalgrid implements exactly this.
The mission of Archeide Empower Fund looks precisely at development in this sense, aligning itself with the projects outlined by the Regalgrid team in the article, in an excellent win-win-win strategy.
Link: Transizione green: pronti alla digitalizzazione dell’energia | WeWealth (we-wealth.com)