Regional electricity supplier digitalizes its network with BentoNet

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BentoNet an Internet particularly for the energy world that securely manages the data required for the energy transition outside the public Internet.

The energy world is currently facing major upheavals and challenges, and the initiated energy transition is fundamentally changing the energy supply. Away from fossil or nuclear-powered large-scale power plants towards many decentralized power generators based on renewable energies.

However, mastering the new challenges is not only the responsibility of the large companies in the energy sector, but also in particular of regional suppliers who have to make a decisive contribution on site.

Gemeindewerke Sinzheim, and thus also the municipality, show innovative strength and tackle these tasks. This is made possible by BentoNet, an Internet specially for the energy world that securely manages the data required for the energy transition outside of the public Internet.

Mobility turnaround, heat turnaround, electricity turnaround & Co.: the new challenges for municipalities

If the energy transition – the permanent supply from sustainably usable, renewable or regenerative sources – is to succeed, electricity will have to be generated and stored more decentrally in the future.

As operators of low-voltage grids, this poses challenges for municipal utilities: mobility transition with e-vehicles, heat transition with heat pumps, electricity transition with solar and wind power, a shortage of skilled workers and regulatory chaos are just a few of the buzzwords that municipal utilities have to deal with in order not to jeopardize the security of supply of their power grids.

The mobility transition in particular is creating a new stress factor for the power grid. This is because not only the feed-in of renewable energies, which fluctuate depending on the weather, but also the charging of e-vehicles are placing new demands on the power grid. What used to be filled up at the gas station now has to flow through transformer stations, switchgear, cable distributors and house connections.

Digitalization makes power grids intelligent, transparent and quickly controllable

However, standard load profiles from the last century are still used to operate the grids, which do not reflect the changes in electricity consumption and feed-in behavior of customers at all.

However this type of network management is no longer sustainable.

Against this background, secure, efficient and economical grid operation is the major challenge faced by grid operators. The grid must be made intelligent, transparent and quickly controllable through digitization. This is the only way to achieve an efficient balance between power generation and power consumption.

BentoNet: the Internet particularly for the energy world

BentoNet supports operators of low-voltage networks in their digitization efforts with its platform including an app store. The BentoNet marketplace offers its own solutions and those of partners. For example, the BentoNet “LoadFlow” app for load flow measurement in low voltage, as used by Gemeindewerke Sinzheim. Or the “Power Quality Analytics” app from Siemens to continuously analyze power quality and identify risks at an early stage. Greenwood Power’s GWP-E app visualizes and processes data from the medium-voltage level to locate a ground fault, for example.

BentoNet supplies hardware and software to collect the data from the power grid. The data is transmitted to the data center via secure mobile phone connections. BentoNet uses its own servers in Germany, and is now available in more than a hundred countries. BentoNet thus ensures the security and availability of data in the critical infrastructure.

Already 20 customers are using the BentoNet platform with its own app store for the energy industry, including Stadtwerke Uslar (Lower Saxony), Schwäbisch-Hall (Baden-Württemberg) and Teterow (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania).

Digitalization of the low-voltage network with BentoNet

The Sinzheim municipal utility has now also begun digitizing its low-voltage network with the help of BentoNet. In five local network stations, a total of 44 cable outlets are monitored in real time using the BentoNet LoadFlow app, and warnings are issued to the control center if limit values are exceeded.

In the future, Gemeindewerke Sinzheim will also be able to access other solutions via the highly secure BentoNet cloud, such as those that monitor power quality, enable energy management for neighborhoods, or use e-car batteries as swarm storage for grid stabilization. Many building blocks that will be indispensable for the grid of the future.

About BentoNet

BentoNet GmbH started in November 2020 as a spin-off from Badische Kraftwerk GmbH and consists of equal shares from Siemens Project Ventures and GBS Beteiligung GmbH. BentoNet offers all players in the energy transition a platform developed for critical infrastructure to manage large data streams simply, securely and cost-effectively. BentoNet’s mission is: “We help the world to master the energy transition by making energy networks secure, CO2-neutral and cost-effective.” The CEO, Manuel Gernsbeck, has been an entrepreneur in the industry for over 20 years. BentoNet’s headquarters are located in Baden-Baden, at the foot of the Black Forest and in the middle of the technology and innovation region of Karlsruhe. There has been an additional office in Berlin since August 2022.

For more information, visit www.bentonet.de

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