Balancing energy, so everything keeps moving
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minute read
It’s the end of the match. A girl reaches for a cold drink. Just like that, she cools down and gets ready for the next game. She doesn’t need to think about where the electricity came from, or what it took to keep it flowing. But behind that simple moment is a system performing a constant balancing act: keeping electricity supply and demand in balance, every second of every day, at 50 hertz. We notice how important that system is when something goes wrong. And keeping it balanced is becoming more difficult.
The energy transition is changing the grid. Solar and wind production depends on the weather. Electric cars and heat pumps are changing when and how electricity is used. Industry is changing its demand. And due to off shore wind generation capacity electricity is increasingly crosses national borders.
For transmission system operators such as TenneT and their European counterparts, keeping the high-voltage system in balance is a constant responsibility. They work with distribution system operators, producers and markets as part of one interconnected system.
Sopra Steria works across that ecosystem, helping bring technology, data and security together for the people responsible for keeping it running.
The balance behind the switch
At any moment, production has to match consumption. When homes use more electricity, factories switch on machinery or cars start charging, the system has to respond. When there is too much or too little electricity, balancing mechanisms help restore the 50-hertz frequency. Sopra Steria builds platforms that enable balancing products to be procured and deployed when the grid requires them. Small deviations can be corrected automatically. When an imbalance grows or lasts longer, reserves can be activated. Where judgement is required, people in the control room remain responsible for the decision. Technology handles what can be automated. People decide when judgement matters.
There is another challenge: how much balancing capacity should be procured in the first place?
Too much can mean unnecessary cost. Too little can leave the system unprepared when support is needed. Sopra Steria is helping TenneT forecast the required balancing capacity. A forecasting model predicts the next reading; Sopra Steria builds the application around it, making the model usable in the day-to-day operations of the control room. The model makes recommendations. People make the decisions. The value is a more efficient and predictable balancing process, while helping manage public funds responsibly.
The data underneath the balance
Balancing a European energy system also depends on information that different organisations can trust and use together. Sopra Steria works with energy organisations on open data platforms and broader data foundations, helping connect data, governance and technology. Because the challenge is not simply collecting data. It is knowing what it means, where it came from and whether it is reliable enough to support a decision. That matters even more as electricity crosses borders. When one country has a shortage, energy can be exchanged with neighbouring systems. When there is surplus production, it can flow elsewhere or be used by flexible resources such as batteries.
The energy system is connected.
The information supporting it needs to be connected too. Security is part of the balance. The grid is becoming more digital, and the systems controlling physical infrastructure are increasingly connected to surrounding IT environments. That creates new vulnerabilities. A sensor in a substation may seem harmless. But what if it could provide a way into the wider system? Sopra Steria uses penetration testing and threat modelling to look at systems as an attacker would, identifying vulnerabilities before they become disruption. The threat is not only in software. It can enter through the physical systems and sensors that connect the digital and operational worlds. Keeping the system running therefore means protecting more than cables, substations and equipment. It also means protecting the technology that controls them.
One system, many borders
The electricity system does not stop at national borders. Weather crosses them. Markets cross them. Electricity crosses them. So do threats. That is why European cooperation matters. Sopra Steria works with works within the energy & utilities sector the Netherlands, Belgium and across Europe, bringing together balancing, forecasting, data and security to help the people responsible for the system manage growing complexity. The goal is not to make that complexity disappear. It is to make it manageable. And the transition will require people and organisations to adapt too: changing when they use energy, producing some themselves or responding to new incentives. Technology can help make those changes possible while keeping reliability, security and cost in view.
What’s precious
The man finishes his drink. A car charges. A greenhouse warms before sunrise A business starts another day. People are more aware of energy than ever. They think about their bills. They choose when to charge. Some produce electricity themselves. But whatever role they play in the system, they depend on it working.
That is what is precious here.
Not the technology. Not the data. Not the balancing platform. The ability to keep homes, businesses and society moving while the energy system changes around them. Technology helps the people responsible for the system see more clearly, respond sooner and keep it running.
Keeping the balance.
Keeping the grid secure.
Keeping life moving.
To protect what’s precious.
Talk to our expert to protect what's precious
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Hilde Heylen
Key account manager utilities
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