The smart thermostat cleantech company Themo today passed the requirements for Fingrid's Frequency Containment Reserve in Finland.
Themo's core innovation is an efficient electricity optimisation algorithm on which the company's smart thermostats are based. In addition to many other parameters, such as time of day and weather forecast, the algorithm considers fluctuations in the price of electricity on the stock exchange when optimising electric heating.
When a frequency deviation is detected, the algorithm automatically switches on all Themo smart thermostats for a short period, for instance, 20 seconds.
Switching on does not affect the heating of the home or heating costs. But, with 20,000 electric heaters in the Finnish market alone, aggregated power has a significant balancing effect on the frequency.
Themo allows electrically heated premises to earn money by participating in balancing the grid. The thermostats save money for their users by optimising electricity consumption while considering the current market price.
In addition, the owners will now be compensated for the utilisation of thermostats in the reserve market.
With smart thermostats, customers can save up to 50 per cent of electricity compared to manual thermostats. For a large rental property operators or hotels, financial savings can amount to tens of thousands of euros.
Madis Uuemaa, CEO and technology developer at Themo, shared:
“We have successfully verified the operation of 1 MW of power mass under test conditions organised by Fingrid.
To pass Fingrid's FCR-D market requirements, the reserve market supplier must be able to detect the frequency deviation and make the necessary adjustment itself within 7.5 seconds.
With our sophisticated cloud solution, aggregation and adjustment of devices is possible in seconds."
Themo's B2B customers participated in the approved test and the company plans to include B2C customers in the reserve market.
Themo manages around 10 MW under its current customer base. The aim is to manage 60 MW by the end of 2026.
In addition to passing Fingrid's reserve market regulation test, Themo also secured €1.3 million in growth funding for product development.
Sunly leads the funding round, which also includes Finnish Indie Investments, owned by Heikki Nakari, and various angel investors, such as Henry Nilert and Ali Omar.
Lead image: Joonas Rantala, sales director of Themo; Madis Uuemaa, CEO; and Markus Perkkiö, CFO. Photo: uncredited.
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