Being an end consumer of power is more complicated than ever, with the increasing use of devices, the complex need of power from electrical vehicles (EV) and the possibilities of locally produced energy via photovoltaic (PV) panels. Ferroamp is a fast growing cleantech company that offers a solution for energy and power optimization in buildings and facilities.
Hi Olof, describe Ferroamp’s innovation!
– The Ferroamp platform is a technical solution that lets you manage your power and energy situation, with the focus on power. In most countries in the western world – but also in China and India – there is a trend where we pay for the transport of electricity rather than the actual production of electricity. The same goes with the internet, where you pay for available capacity instead of the amount you are using. Also, instead of just managing the energy consumption, it has shifted towards focus on simultaneous use of different things in your facility. Today we are talking about power – not energy – which means kW instead of kWh.
– The next trend is that in the past, the facility owner was very passive in the usage of power. Just On and Off. Today they have their own generation of solar power on the roof, they may have their own battery in the basement as they want a smart way to control the power and, in some cases, they charge an electrical vehicle, with a huge power consumption. This new landscape requires a more sophisticated management system to distribute the power. Ferroamp provides a complete platform for the customer to manage the power in the most efficient way.
Ferroamp / Olof Heyman, Senior Advisor
How was the development process initiated?
– Our founder, Björn Jernström, found himself frustrated back in 2010, due to high tariffs related to uneven current distribution between the phases. Therefore, he invented a system to even out the current between the phases, and soon he realised that he could make a full DC system from his invention. On the DC cable, he could suddenly connect PV panels, batteries and DC chargers for EVs. In parallel, the society started to request this kind of systems, and with that drive the company was founded in 2010 and made their first deliveries in 2016.
Who is your target customer?
– Our end customers today are condominiums, public and private facility owners of residential and commercial buildings. We typically sell our platform to integrators, who sell it to the end customers. Our best integrators bring our EnergyHub to their customer and install it for free. They collect data for a couple of months, and after that they get a detailed fingerprint on the building, present it to the customer together with proposed actions. In this way, the customer gets a full picture of their energy system and can take smart decisions based on that.
– Last year we included villas as a target group. If you for example have an electrical vehicle, our system can help you balance out the phase load, so that you can charge the car three times faster.
– The start cost for integrating the Ferroamp platform is 30 000 SEK, including VAT. You can also connect your PV panels to this system. If you decide to buy a battery you can connect that as well. So, it’s a system for stepwise growth.
Which are your export markets? What other markets would you like to enter?
– We are aiming to build a strong platform in Sweden, to fully understand the utilization of the system. However, we see of course that many other countries have similar drivers as Sweden. In Norway we have delivered a number of systems already, and several pilot orders are coming from a number of European countries. The Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain are some of the interesting markets.
What made you focus on those specific markets and how did you approach them?
– There are different drivers from country to country. For example Norway have a huge number of EVs giving constraints in their distribution grid. Here the Ferroamp system helps out to manage the power on facility level. In The Netherlands and Portugal, they have tariff systems that motivates our product. Generally, EVs, tariffs and regulations drive the need for a power management system on facility level – That is Ferroamp.
Ferroamp / Ehub side slant
Why should an investor choose your company?
– As we speak, the government promotes Local Energy Communities on both EU level and country level. The Ferroamp PowerShare system is enabling connections of different buildings and is a perfect fit to such Communities. We make an overlay grid of direct current that enables sharing of PV power, energy storage and grid connections. There is no longer a lack of power, and you can cut the peaks. It is cost-efficient and the market is huge.
– We also have a strong patent on phase balancing, and a couple of more interesting applications. The strong Ferroamp platform also includes a service platform, making software a key, for the application as well as for the control of the system.
What is your long-term vision? How will your company develop, looking ten years ahead?
– The sharing economy will optimize the power grid. We see a trend with a local overlay DC grid, parallel to the existing grid, enabling power share and energy storage between buildings. This enables a more efficient use, with locally produced power and support. By being a strong player in this process we can contribute significantly to a cleaner world.
Visit Ferroamp at ferroamp.com
Written by: Hanna Näslund
