Orus Energy: building flexibility for the energy transition
Orus Energy, a specialist in energy flexibility, has developed an innovative technology that enables building managers to optimize the energy management of their facilities by making their flexibility available to power grid operators. Thanks to this solution, building managers can contribute to the balance of the grid, by switching off the consumption of certain appliances (ventilation, heating, air conditioning) without affecting the comfort of occupants. Here's why we support them.
The transition to a lower-carbon energy model disrupts the power grid
The power grid, a bottleneck for the energy transition
The energy transition constitutes a revolution on an unprecedented scale (150K billion euros invested between now and 2050). It is also absolutely essential, since 75% of human GHG emissions are energy-related. According to theInternational Energy Agency, the main obstacle to the energy transition is power grid management. With an energy mix in a state of upheaval, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a balance between production and consumption on the grid:
-increasingly intermittent production: to decarbonize the energy mix, intermittent renewable energies are becoming increasingly important.
- increasing consumption : decarbonization also means electrifying the energy mix (electric cars, heat pumps, etc.), and therefore increasing consumption.
To address these risks of imbalance between power generation and consumption at peak times, grid operators have to call on thermal power plants (coal or gas) that are both very expensive and have very high CO2 emissions.
Demand flexibility, a key factor in the energy transition
To maintain the power grid balance, another option is to lower consumption in certain places, in order to reduce the peak. This principle is used by grid operators such as RTE in France through flexibility mechanisms: the operator asks some of its large consumers to cut down on their consumption for a given period against compensation.
Demand flexibility is a proven solution, widely used in the industrial sector, generating 1.3 billion euros in France in 2022 (DSF in Europe 2022 by smartEn). But there are still some untapped resources, and demand for flexibility is still growing: in 2021, Carbone 4 estimated that the energy transition would need 5 times as much flexible power to operate properly.
Buildings, ideal candidates for large-scale electrical flexibility
The greatest potential for flexibility lies in tertiary buildings, which alone account for more thana third of electricity consumption during peak periods. A 2003 report from the CRE (French energy regulatory commixssion) thus estimated flexible power in tertiary buildings linked to heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), which accounts for the majority of consumption, at 6GW (= 6 nuclear reactors).
Thanks to the thermal inertia of buildings, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning consumption can be adjusted by 1 or 2 hours with no impact on comfort (the #1 concern in offices, shopping centers, hotels, etc.).
Buildings therefore have an energy storage capacity that enables them to cut their consumption in the event of a peak. Shifting consumption is facilitated by the widespread installation of control systems, often referred to as BMS(Building Management Systems), which, according to the BACS decree, will be mandatory in buildings over 2,000m² by 2025.
Orus Energy, tomorrow's leading partner in energy management for buildings
An innovative solution
Despite its significant potential, flexibility in commercial buildings has yet to be fully harnessed. Capitalizing on this asset is a complex task for building managers, who have neither the knowledge nor the technological tools to access electricity markets. Orus Energy aims to become the missing link between buildings and the electricity grid.
To make the most of this flexibility potential in the commercial sector, Orus Energy offers asset managers a SaaS platform, connected both to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment (via BMS) and to requests from grid operators.
The platform can therefore react quickly to each demand to cut the consumption of certain appliances without any impact on comfort, thanks to an algorithm that models the building's thermal behavior.
A young and ambitious team
Its three founders, Alexandre, Théophile and Fanny met at the HEC business school after studying at Polytechnique, Supaero and Dauphine respectively. They were brought together by a shared ambition: innovating to support the energy transition.
When building their first project around thermal batteries, they learned two valuable lessons from their encounters with players in the commercial real estate sector: the sector is reluctant to install hardware solutions, but most importantly, buildings already have storage potential thanks to their thermal inertia. The discovery of this huge potential is therefore at the heart of Orus Energy's genesis.
A clear environmental impact in support of the energy transition
By giving the electricity grid access to the tremendous flexibility potential of commercial buildings, Orus Energy can become a major facilitator of the energy transition.
Orus Energy's environmental impact mainly materializes through the non-use of thermal power plants during peak hours, when the carbon intensity of electricity in France is 100g CO2eq/kWh, compared with 15g outside peak hours (Source: RTE winter 2023 data). Avoiding the use of these power plants would reduce the carbon intensity of each kWh consumed by around 78%.
Orus Energy's potential impact on the carbon emissions of the electricity grid is therefore significant: with a substantial number of buildings under management, this translates into several thousand tonnes of CO2.
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