The transition to a lower-carbon energy model is disrupting the power grid
The electrical grid, bottleneck of the energy transition
The energy transition is a revolution on an unprecedented scale (€150T to be invested by 2050). It is also absolutely essential, since 75% of human GHG emissions come from energy. According to the International Energy Agency, the main barrier to the energy transition is electricity grid management. With an energy mix undergoing major upheaval, maintaining the production/consumption balance on the grid is becoming increasingly difficult due to:
- increasingly intermittent production: to decarbonize the energy mix, reliance on intermittent renewable energy sources is growing.
- growing consumption: decarbonization also requires electrifying the energy mix (electric vehicles, heat pumps, etc.), which means increased consumption.
To address these risks of imbalance between electricity production and consumption during peak periods, grid operators must rely on thermal power plants (coal or gas) that are both highly costly and generate significant CO2 emissions.
Demand flexibility, a cornerstone of the energy transition
To maintain grid balance, the other option is to reduce consumption in certain locations to smooth out the peak. This principle is used by grid operators like RTE in France through flexibility mechanisms: the operator asks certain large consumers to cut their consumption for a set period in exchange for compensation.
Demand-side flexibility is a proven solution, widely deployed in the industrial sector, generating €1.3 billion in France in 2022 (DSF in Europe 2022 by smartEn). But some resources remain untapped, and the demand for flexibility continues to grow: in 2021, consulting firm Carbone4 estimated that the energy transition would require five times more flexible capacity to operate effectively.
Buildings: ideal candidates for large-scale electricity flexibility
The greatest flexibility potential lies in commercial buildings, which alone account for more than a third of electricity consumption during peak periods. A 2023 report from France's Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) estimated the flexible capacity in commercial buildings related to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)—which represents the majority of consumption—at 6GW (equivalent to 6 nuclear reactors).
Thanks to the thermal inertia of buildings, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning consumption can be shifted by 1 to 2 hours without impacting comfort—the number one concern in offices, shopping centers, hotels, and similar spaces.
The building therefore has an energy storage capacity that allows it to cut its consumption during peak periods. Load shifting is facilitated by the massive deployment of control systems often called BMS (Building Management System), mandatory by 2025 in buildings over 2,000m² under the BACS decree.
Orus Energy, the future go-to partner for building energy management
An innovative solution
Despite this considerable potential, the flexibility of commercial buildings remains largely untapped. Leveraging this asset is indeed quite complex for building managers, who lack both the expertise and the technological tools to access electricity markets. Orus Energy therefore aspires to become the missing link between buildings and the power grid.
To best leverage this flexibility potential in commercial buildings, Orus Energy provides property managers with a SaaS platform connected both to heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment (via BMS) and to grid operator requests.
For each curtailment request, the platform can therefore react quickly to cut the consumption of certain devices without impacting comfort, thanks to an algorithm that models the building's thermal behavior.
A young and ambitious team
The three founders—Alexandre, Théophile, and Fanny—met while studying at HEC, after completing their respective degrees at Polytechnique, Supaero, and Dauphine. They came together around a shared ambition: to innovate in support of the energy transition.
While building an initial project around thermal batteries, their conversations with commercial real estate stakeholders taught them two valuable lessons: the sector is reluctant to install hardware solutions and, more importantly, buildings already have inherent storage potential through their thermal inertia. Discovering this vast untapped potential is what sparked the creation of Orus Energy.
An obvious environmental impact driving the energy transition
By enabling the power grid to tap into the tremendous flexibility potential of commercial buildings, Orus Energy can become a major enabler of the energy transition.
Orus Energy's environmental impact is primarily realized by avoiding the use of thermal power plants during peak hours, when the carbon intensity of electricity in France reaches 100g CO2eq/kWh compared to 15g during off-peak periods (Source: RTE winter 2023 data). Avoiding the use of these plants therefore represents a reduction of approximately 78% in the carbon intensity of each kWh consumed.
The potential impact of Orus Energy on the power grid's carbon emissions is therefore considerable: with a substantial portfolio of buildings under management, we're talking several thousand tons of CO2.
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