01 · Local
The Enlink box
Installed directly on existing technical systems, independent of BMS and EMS systems. Gives us direct operational control over flexible loads without complex integrations.
TECHNOLOGY
The power plant that never stops growing.
Electrification is happening faster than grid expansion. That creates a growing need for flexibility. That flexibility already exists in the buildings around us. Enlink is the technology that makes it available – building by building.
A power system under pressure.
Europe's power system was planned for demand that was far more predictable than today's. As cars, buildings and industry swap fossil energy for electricity, demand grows faster than the grid is built out. The result is local capacity problems, higher grid tariffs and increased risk of capacity shortfalls: hours when demand exceeds what the system can deliver at that moment.
Demand is only half the picture. A growing share of power comes from solar and wind, which produce when the weather allows. Both demand and generation now swing harder and more often than before.
Historically, dispatchable generation absorbed the difference: hydropower in the Nordics, gas, coal and nuclear elsewhere in Europe. There is now less of exactly that kind of generation. Hydropower has physical limits, coal and gas are being phased out in the green transition, and nuclear is poorly suited to following rapid changes. System operators, grid companies and research communities point in the same direction: demand-side flexibility must take on more of the job.
Buildings are an unused power plant.
Norwegian commercial buildings account for a significant share of peak demand on the distribution grid. Heating, cooling, ventilation and process loads can in practice be controlled without affecting core operations. This flexibility has real market value, but today it is largely unused.
It isn't a question of willingness. What's missing is the control. Most buildings simply have no easy way to control their loads, let alone sell the flexibility on. Traditional solutions are expensive, hard to integrate and tailored to one building at a time. Enlink is built to solve exactly this.
A standardised platform for flexibility in buildings.
Enlink installs local control technology directly on the building's existing technical systems, independent of existing BMS or EMS systems. This gives us direct operational control over flexible loads, without complex integrations or extensive rebuilding.
Each installation connects to our central platform, which continuously analyses electricity prices, grid tariffs and the building's consumption profile. The platform controls the resources automatically to maximise value, through demand reduction, load shifting and participation in flexibility and balancing markets.
Every installation uses the same standardised hardware. That lets us roll out quickly, keep costs down and deliver the same quality in building number 200 as in building number one.
Architecture
02 · Cloud
The Enlink platform
Continuously analyses electricity price, grid tariff and the building's consumption profile, and controls the resources automatically to maximise value around the clock.
03 · Market
Value creation
Captures value through demand reduction, load shifting and participation in flexibility markets, from day one.
From single building to virtual power plant.
Each installation is more than a one-off delivery. It is a building block in a growing portfolio of controllable loads. When enough buildings are connected, the flexibility can be aggregated and delivered into the energy markets as one combined resource: a virtual power plant. The buildings work together rather than on their own, and combined they deliver a better result than any single building can achieve alone.
This makes it possible to take part in Statnett's reserve markets, local flexibility markets and balancing markets. Flexibility from buildings is activated by controlling existing consumption. It costs little each time the resource is used, and makes Enlink competitive in the markets over time.
Aggregation
The market is finally ready.
Flexibility in buildings has long had technical potential, but only now are the framework conditions in place. Capacity-based grid tariffs increase the value of demand reduction. Statnett has reduced the minimum bid volume in mFRR from 10 MW to 1 MW, and plans further opening for aggregated resources. Local flexibility markets are being established at several grid companies.
Enlink is built for these conditions. The technology is ready, the portfolio is growing and the market is opening. The timing is no coincidence.
Want to know more?
Get in touch directly, or get started and see what your building is worth.