Many organisations are now considering flexibility optimisation within their energy strategies, but in order to maximise the opportunities this can offer, it’s important to communicate with the various stakeholders involved in your organisation’s energy strategy. As the energy system evolves, so do the partnerships we need to navigate it, and they all play a distinct role. Because no one organisation can deliver all that’s needed for a cohesive and holistic energy strategy, it’s important to communicate and collaborate with a range of stakeholders, to accelerate you towards your goals. 

Here are the top 5 essential partners to collaborate with, to ensure that you have an energy strategy that is fit for the future:

1. Energy consultants

Energy consultants, also known as a third-party intermediates, are valuable in providing market comparisons and services for organisations. They can help organisations develop energy strategies and support with their goals, such as minimising costs or achieving sustainability aims. Energy consultants provide a dedicated service to help manage your organisation’s energy procurement strategy, which can be vital if your organisation doesn’t have dedicated in-house energy experts, and they can assist with risk management and compliance with sustainability protocols. 

2. Technology installers 

Technology installers can help organisations with future or ongoing installations of on-site technologies, provide advice around investment or funding for these technologies, and help to ensure optimal return on investment. These on-site technologies could include Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), solar photovoltaic (PV), Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, and heat pumps. Installers ensure that your technologies are installed correctly and are maximised to meet your aims and site requirements. 

It’s important to work together with both your electricity supplier and installer, to ensure that your electricity supply contract can support your plans with your technology suite and flexibility optimisation efforts, and that you can make the most of your technologies. 

3. Technology installers 

Flexibility optimisers support organisations with their energy strategy, by monitoring assets, modelling and suggesting services to maximise returns, shifting electricity loads to lower-cost periods, and helping organisations export energy to the grid in times of need. In doing so, they can help you maximise the revenue available, operating your flexibility optimisation from behind the scenes whilst taking into consideration your site needs. 

 The Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) modification P415 has opened the wholesale market to third-party aggregators, with the introduction of Virtual Trading Parties (VTPs). VTPs are certified participants in the wholesale electricity market, able to aggregate assets (combining multiple flexibility resources into one portfolio) and trade on behalf of other parties, independently of their supply contract. It’s critical that both your supply and optimisation approach must complement each other in your strategy to maximise returns. 

As a VTP, Bryt Energy can offer our electricity flexibility optimisation product to a wide array of organisations, including our supply customers and those with supply agreements elsewhere. Our flexibility optimisation product can help unlock financial opportunities and enable these organisations to become more active participants in the grid. optimisation product can help unlock financial opportunities and enable these organisations to become more active participants in the grid. 

4. Your electricity supplier 

Your electricity supplier can help you secure the right contract and fuel mix for your organisation’s needs, taking into consideration how much involvement you would like to have in your energy procurement strategy, your organisation’s budget and appetite for risk, and how market reflective you’d like your electricity prices to be. If your organisation would like to be more flexible with your electricity usage, and take advantage of wholesale electricity market and flexibility markets, it’s important that your electricity contract allows for this. 

Communicating with your supplier about your organisation’s aims and planned activities is critical in order to unlock the benefits of flexibility optimisation. Your electricity supplier will assume your electricity consumption profile will be the same as it was across the last 12 months, unless you tell them otherwise. With that knowledge, they can help make sure your contract is future-proof and has provisions for change within it as your energy strategy evolves – whether that be changes in consumption levels and usage profiles, the technologies you install, or your purchasing strategy. 

That way, you can negotiate a contract that supports your planned technologies, so that you can reap their full benefits. Your supplier can also ensure that any changes to your electricity usage that occur as a result of flexibility optimisation do not impact your billing or your contract. 

5. Your in-house experts 

Your organisation’s in-house experts, often from a range of areas that you may not anticipate (including energy, facilities, sustainability, IT, finance and manufacturing experts), will be essential in implementing change across your organisation. These experts may be involved in the installation of on-site technologies, and they can utilise their own knowledge to identify opportunities for flexibility and which loads can be shifted. It’s important to involve them within your strategy, and that these departments work cross-functionally rather than in silos. For example, if someone who’s responsible for transport fleets is going to electrify their organisation’s vehicles, they’ll need to install charging points, but if those procuring their electricity are unaware of this, that organisation could be exposed to unexpected electricity prices or fees. 

These experts will also be important in preventing any unexpected impacts on your processes from flexibility optimisation. They may not originally be energy experts, but they will likely be the ones actioning any change, so it’s important that they are engaged and informed about the changes. 

Our energy ecosystem is evolving, widening, as the energy landscape moves from a linear to a decentralised system – and all stakeholders represent various parts of the puzzle that need to fit together in your organisation’s energy strategy. Within this, everyone has an opportunity to leverage energy as a key strategic asset and create value. By working collectively with all your stakeholders, you can implement your holistic energy strategy and ensure the most impactful approach. 

Here at Bryt Energy, we are both a renewable electricity supplier* and flexibility optimiser, able to optimise flexibility for our supply customers and those who have supply agreements elsewhere. With our electricity expertise and market knowledge, we’re perfectly placed to help your organisation take advantage of new revenue streams, in a way that suits your organisation’s needs and supports a decarbonised grid. 

For more information, click here, or get in touch with our team of experts at energytransition@brytenergy.co.uk or on 0330 053 8620.