NODES vision is to build Europe’s most customer-centric, integrated energy marketplace to unlock the value of local flexible power resources and support the drive to a sustainable, emission free future.

“NODES will continue to listen closely to the needs of its marketplace participants and build solutions that fit the global need for energy flexibility.”

 NODES is the independent marketplace for a sustainable energy future where grid owners, producers, and consumers of energy can trade decentralized flexibility and energy. As an independent market operator, NODES is addressing key trends and challenges in the energy system, such as the increased share of renewable power production, decentralised generation, and the rapid change in customer behaviour.

Richard Sarti, CEO of NODES , spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review about how his company is providing a customer-centric platform to address key trends and challenges in renewable power production.

Interview Highlights

Please provide a brief summary of the events that led to the founding of NODES Market.

NODES was created on the back of a project in southern Norway to defer investment in a substation that was being overloaded for two weeks per year. By creating a marketplace and utilising flexible assets in the area, the grid operator was able to defer millions of euros in investment costs. This led to a whitepaper, which formed the basis for creating a new and innovative electricity market design. This market design corresponded with the new role of an independent flexibility market operator being proposed in the current European electricity market. This new market design has led to the creation of the company and, ultimately, the NODES software platform that implements this market design in real life .

Q. Can you introduce us to your services/products? What are their main features?

NODES offers a marketplace available on a web-based application where both buyers (grid operators) and sellers (Flexibility Service Providers (FSPs)) can act to solve grid challenges using the following products:

LongFlex^™ (reservation market)

Longer contracts (Yearly, seasonal, or weekly), where the seller is available to provide certain services when called upon by the buyer based on Availability price and Maximum Utilisation price. LongFlex™ contracts are activated in the Shortflex™ market.

ShortFlex^™ (activation market)

A continuous market that is configurable with various options for market open/close and product duration. Where Buyers can request for flexibility at specific time duration and sellers can offer their flexibility by receiving common location, price and volume information via the NODES marketplace.

TSO-DSO coordination

NODES also provide a single interface to participate in both DSO and TSO market. This allows the flexibility providers to perform value stacking and participate in TSO ancillary services market via NODES marketplace.

Q. How does NODES Market facilitate optimal use of flexibility in the grid for providers and grid operators?

NODES marketplace enables the trading of flexibility with a simple concept. Where flexibility is offered bottom-up and bought top-down. Any grid operator can go from high voltage (HV) to Medium Voltage (MV) and down to Low Voltage (LV) to buy flexibility. While flexibility providers can list their assets of any size, even assets as small as 1kW can participate in offering flexibility at the LV, MV, or HV levels by being part of asset portfolios. These portfolios allow the flexibility providers to reduce their risks and give many types of assets the equal opportunity to perform in the market, where the grid operators can optimally buy flexibility from many flexibility providers at different levels of the grid to enable a stable and efficient grid operation.

Q. What strategies is NODES marketplace implementing to unlock the value of local flexible power resources and support a sustainable, emission-free future?

By creating a local market for a distribution grid and using a nodal approach, the NODES marketplace allows all types of assets to participate. Where Renewable Energy Sources (RES) like Solar PV, wind, and other generation assets can participate using a single interface to the NODES marketplace. Also, cleaner consumption sources like Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers, battery storage, heat pumps, etc. can participate in providing flexibility to the grid. NODES facilitates automated registration, participation, and activation by providing secure and efficient interfaces, allowing all market participants to compete on a level playing field.

Q. As a market operator facilitating the trading between grid companies and flexibility service providers, how crucial are partnerships to your company?

NODES enables a complete digital value chain on both the buyer and seller sides of the marketplace. Where new roles on the seller side are emerging, technical aggregators are providing technological solutions for asset owner/operators to participate in the marketplace and gain revenue from it. Also on the buyer side, network operation solution providers are digitising the grid operation and providing services for increasing operational awareness of the grid and identifying congestion points for grid operators to buy flexibility on those points. NODES creates partnerships with both technical aggregators and network operators to enable a complete new digital flexibility value chain.

Q. Will your company be expanding and bringing on any new services that we should be aware of?

NODES is always improving its delivery to its customers and users of the marketplace. NODES will be bringing many new services in the coming months. Following are some of the services:

• Automated settlement and invoicing module.
• More detailed Market Data insights for financial institutions, researchers, and new investors in clean technology.
• FlexZones^™: An open map where geographical zones are created for a grid operator, where flexibility will be potentially bought in the coming trading season. This will give a clear signal to the FSPs to register assets in this geographical area and to a grid operator to evaluate the total available flexibility in that area.
• An advanced version of market-based TSO-DSO coordination.

Q. No doubt, NODES Services is charting new territories in this segment. Given how frequently circumstances change, what plans for transformation are you pursuing to remain relevant now and in the future?

NODES is looking to expand its offering to different regions of the world. The energy transition will not be possible without solving the grid challenges. As more renewable energy grows on the grid, there is a need to use the grid even smarter. Build efficiency in grid planning, operation, and coordination. NODES will continue to listen closely to the needs of its marketplace participants and build solutions that fit the global need for energy flexibility.

About | Richard Sarti

Richard Sarti is the CEO of NODES. He has been with the company for the past three years. He comes from one of the largest European power Exchanges, NordPool, where over 10 years he successfully built a new electricity market in the UK that focused on day-ahead auction trading. Prior to Nord Pool, Richard Spent 10 years working in the trading and risk management space.

Since Joining NODES, Richard has been working with the board to develop the strategy and bring together a team that is passionate about the energy transition. While the company is Norwegian and headquartered in Oslo, Richard and his executive team are intent on bringing the NODES marketplace to the rest of the Nordics, Europe, and North America.

“NODES is developing partnerships with all elements of the new digital value chain that will underpin the energy markets of the future, making them smarter and more efficient.”