Case study
Ensuring continuity of energy supply – implementation
the Sygnity Forecast system in Stredoslovenská Energetika
Due to a transformation of the energy sector in the European Union, the priority is both to reduce environmental pollution (e.g. increasing RES-E) and ensuring continuity of energy supply. Companies from the energy sector are facing many challenges. One of them is to ensure the continuity of energy supply using energy generated from RES and balancing energy on the market.
When it comes to RES, energy production depends on weather conditions. The highest generation does not necessarily coincide with the highest demand in a time and that is why it is so important to have a specific forecast known in advance. A system that can forecast both the amount of energy produced and the level of customer demand comes to the rescue.
The client and their needs
Stredoslovenská energetika (SSE) is an energy company located in Žilina, Slovakia. It is the second-largest electricity distributor in Slovakia, offering energy generated both from conventional sources and from renewable energy sources. The company supplies and distributes electricity to approximately 700,000 customers – firms and households.
SSE needed a solution to forecast the energy demand of theirs customers and thus ensure the security of the energy supply.
The role of Sygnity and the greatest challenges
We were implementing the Sygnity Forecast system, which allows the client to make an effective and accurate forecast of both the demand and production of the energy. We developed the system with new ML models, which improved the quality of forecasts. We have also built new models for forecasting production on photovoltaic power plants. The system allows the client to define expert forecasts using any Excel formulas, which allows for high flexibility.
The greatest challenges were to build models for photovoltaic power plants from scratch and the short implementation time (only 4 months).
Business benefits
Thanks to the Sygnity Forecast system, our client:
- has accurate forecasts in advance for the next year, which enables them to plan effectively their strategy.
- collects data on an ongoing basis for more detailed analysis and has tools to support the analysis.
- has accurate purchase plans on the energy market to meet the demand thanks to automatic calculations and forecasts in advance from one day to five days.
- effectively cares for the needs of its customers and reduces imbalance costs (e.g. risk of fines).
Process of cooperation
The project took 4 months and was implemented in the Agile methodology. It was divided into 3 stages:
Stage 1 Implementation of the system (1 month)
The client received a working system (including configuration) from us already 1 month after signing the contract.
Stage 2 Migration of the historical data and tuning of forecasting models (1 month)
From that moment, the client was working in two systems in parallel. The previous Sygnity CFS (Customer Forecast System) and the new Sygnity Forecast.
Stage 3 Stabilization of the entire solution (2 months)