Next Kraftwerke forecasts production of Osaka Gas PV unit

Through the cooperation with Next Kraftwerke, Osaka Gas aims to realize highly accurate forecast of solar power generation by making timely forecast based on the latest weather changes.

Next Kraftwerke aggregates over 8,000 energy producing and consuming units in its VPP, managing and optimizing operations for its clients. The company trades a networked capacity of about 7,100 MW on European spot markets and uses it to provide ancillary services. 

Solar assets mark the largest share of the Next Kraftwerke portfolio. With a capacity of more than 3,100 MW, Next Kraftwerke is the largest solar trader in Germany. Using a variety of different data, such as live feed-in data from the connected assets, weather forecasts and historical feed-in data in combination with machine learning, the VPP operator has specialized in forecasting PV production. 

“In this cooperation with Osaka Gas, Next Kraftwerke will use the live feed-in data from the solar power station in Yura to forecast its production on an hourly basis. We forecast the production and then over the course of the day continuously update the forecast to make it as accurate as possible”, explains Tobias Romberg, Project Manager at Next Kraftwerke. “The market in Japan is facing changes. In the future, re-newable energy is supposed to become independent from the current feed-in-tariff and to be integrated in the system through the power market. Therefore, energy services such as forecasting will become more and more important. Forward thinking, Osaka Gas is already preparing and we are happy to take this step with them“.