Finland’s first EV virtual power plant goes live

After years of R&D, energy startup Synergi today launched Finland’s first EV virtual power plant. Synergi is the first company in Finland to aggregate thousands of electric vehicles via its consumer app, effectively creating a virtual power plant that supports grid balancing when needed.

For consumers, this means the ability to earn rewards with home EV charging. Synergi‘s free mobile app is already trusted by over 10,000 households. 

Check out our earlier interview with Antti Hämmäinen, CEO and co-founder at Synergi.

With the launch of its new smart charging service, EV drivers in Finland can now participate in grid balancing directly through their home charging and earn monetary rewards in return.

 Smart charging automatically schedules EV charging during the cheapest and most grid-friendly hours, allowing drivers to earn rewards from home charging.  

Synergi’s smart charging feature automatically schedules EV charging to the most affordable hours of the day when the grid is least congested. 

Fine-tuning EV charging in real-time

Traditionally, smart charging has optimised charging based on hourly market prices, but Synergi’s new service goes further by fine-tuning the charging of thousands of vehicles in real time – for example, by pausing or resuming charging when the grid is over- or underloaded.

Drivers receive monetary incentives determined by two factors: the duration of charging and the total energy consumed (kWh).

This structure rewards users not only for energy usage but also for providing grid flexibility by keeping their vehicles connected for extended periods.

 “By becoming Finland’s first virtual power plant for EVs and launching a new smart charging service, we’re laying the groundwork for a model where households can play a more active role in the energy transition and benefit from smart and flexible electricity use.

Across Europe, there are already many demand response solutions where households can earn tens of euros per month in rewards,” says Antti Hämmäinen, Founder and CEO of Synergi. 

New solutions for energy transition 

Enabling household flexibility is a critical part of the energy transition. As society becomes increasingly electrified and renewable energy sources become more common, the electricity grid requires more flexible consumption from all users.

New solutions, such as Synergi’s software-based remote control of devices, make it possible to integrate household flexibility into grid operations.

Promoting demand response among households also supports the use of renewable energy sources. 

Piloted reward system improved the driver's charging experience 

Synergi’s new smart charging service was piloted with over 100 EV drivers earlier this year. Pilot results demonstrated that the reward system improved the driver's charging experience and that grid balancing events did not interfere with their routines.

It also encouraged them to plug in earlier and stay connected longer, helping to maximise the availability and capacity of energy flexibility. Users simply set a desired charging completion time in the app, and grid balancing happens automatically within that time window. 

The Synergi app currently supports all major EV brands, including Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo, Audi, Hyundai, ŠKODA, and more.

Vehicles are connected via the manufacturer’s cloud services using the user’s credentials. Therefore, households do not need to buy special chargers or pay for costly installation work to start charging at home and earning rewards.

Currently, grid balancing operates only by starting or stopping charging — energy is never fed back from the car battery into the grid.

Rewards are available for EV drivers in Finland, but Synergi plans to expand the service to include heating, cooling, and home battery systems, with a broader rollout across Europe in the future.