2017 Global Distributed Energy Company of the Year Award

Transcription

1 2017 Global Distributed Energy Company of the Year Award 2017 GLOBAL DISTRIBUTED ENERGY COMPANY OF THE YEAR AWARD

2 Contents Background and Company Performance... 3 Industry Challenges... 3 Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact... 3 Conclusion Significance of Company of the Year Understanding Company of the Year Key Benchmarking Criteria Visionary Innovation & Performance Customer Impact Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards Research Methodology About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

3 Background and Company Performance Industry Challenges The global energy sector has been rapidly transforming in recent years. It is shifting from large, centralized conventional power sources to decentralized power generation, much of it coming from renewable sources. This shift in the energy mix is causing challenges for system operators as renewable generation is intermittent and does not materially contribute to underlying grid stability or "system inertia". As a result, electricity systems are now more complex and more volatile than ever. The growing penetration of variable electricity generation from renewables is increasing the need for better data about the status of networks and for faster responding and dynamic grid balancing measures. The high volume of decentralized energy is making cost-effective system management considerably more challenging. Increasing spare capacity from conventional generation is one solution, but this would contribute to increased carbon emissions and investment costs for system operators which would ultimately result in increased energy bills for consumers. Reactive's cutting edge telecommunications technology is the other solution. It enables system operators to efficiently handle the shift to a lower carbon energy mix, safely operate in a low inertia energy environment and deliver value to consumers. Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact Excellence in Addressing Unmet Needs Reactive Technologies unparalleled commitment to innovation is a boon to the energy industry. The company has a clear understanding of evolving market needs and continually innovates to ensure that its product offerings are ahead of their time. Its targeted innovation focusses on creating solutions based on the current and future market needs. Reactive s ground breaking demand side response (DSR) solution Tradenergy identifies pre-existing flexible capacity within industrial and commercial energy users' assets and enables their participation in DSR. This helps system operators meet their need to rectify system imbalance while also providing a future-proof, fully optimized and integrated energy management solution for businesses. Tradenergy addresses the un-met market needs in a number of ways: Its unique and sustainable approach to energy management makes DSR smarter and redefines the traditional model which involves high investment and uncertainty around returns It empowers businesses by giving them the ability to actively manage energy risks, ranging from energy price risk to imbalance risk to use of system charges Its cloud-based platform leverages mass communication technologies previously Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

4 solely used in telecoms to maximize end users' inherent operational flexibility Its ability to identify existing asset flexibility and remotely optimize energy consumption of individual electrical assets such as HVAC, lighting, storage, refrigeration, etc. It allows system operators to decrease reliance on a small number of high output, carbon intensive sources and instead be able to call upon high volumes of small, low carbon assets more efficiently and cost effectively It opens up access to a complete suite of intelligent energy management revenues (savings) across the end user s asset base by integrating different asset types and geographical locations Reactive s unique ability to offer DSR with a truly holistic approach enables it to enhance customer value multifold. Its Tradenergy platform delivers an ultra-fast, future-proof energy management and DSR optimization service. This next generation of sophisticated DSR control connects to customers electrical assets via a secure, cloud-based platform interface; furthermore, it eliminates the need for a costly physical interface to be installed. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

5 Tradenergy delivers accurate and safe optimization of customers assets in line with preagreed operational parameters, ensuring customers stay in control of their assets at all times.case Study - Earlier this year, Reactive successfully deployed Tradenergy in France with retail giant Carrefour Hypermarchés, enabling them to deliver vital demand flexibility to the French system operator Réseau de transport d'électricité (RTE). Tradenergy aggregates and dispatches load flexibility from HVACs and chillers across a portfolio of Carrefour s sites, made up of distribution centres, hypermarkets and supermarkets. This next generation of sophisticated DSR control provides Carrefour with a single stop energy optimisation solution that extracts full value across all existing opportunities. This type of partnership is replicable with the deployment of Tradenergy anywhere in the world. Blue Ocean Strategy Reactive s Grid Data Measurement System (GDMS) is a ground-breaking communications solution that broadcasts data messages through an entire grid using existing electrical infrastructure. The company has made history by breaking all barriers involved in sending and receiving digital messages through an electricity grid and building a commercial business case on the back of it. What in the past was considered financially prohibitive and was limited to geographically restricted applications is now made possible on a national level and seamlessly so; thanks to Reactive s GDMS technology. It allows electrical devices, ranging from industrial chillers to energy storage devices to domestic appliances, to participate in Demand Side Response (DSR) without the need for an internet/cellular connection or any type of advanced interface. GDMS works by systematically modulating the 50Hz signal that carries the electricity, creating a unique code within the frequency signal that is carried to all corners of the grid and devices connected to it. The receiving Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

6 devices are programmed to detect these frequency changes, identify the unique code and decode the messages. These messages automatically instruct the device to carry out particular actions, for instance, to turn up or turn down according to a schedule (i.e. time of day), customer preference or grid frequency changes. These codes/operational instructions are highly secure and can only be read by the recipient devices. By providing electricity system operators with sophisticated insights into the behavior of electrically connected assets that generate, consume or store electricity, GDMS effectively addresses the network planning challenges pertaining to limited visibility of low voltage networks. Using GDMS to provide services to the domestic sector represents a clear blue ocean strategy. While this sector has been deemed too difficult, expensive and fragmented to access and mobilize by existing technologies and legacy players, Reactive s GDMS technology is able to address these major challenges in a unique, secure, reliable and cost-effective fashion. GDMS is indeed a true World First. Frost & Sullivan believes that Reactive s GDMS technology will accelerate the company s growth globally and play a crucial role in securing it a leadership position in a potentially uncontested market. Visionary Scenarios through Use of Megatrends Creativity is embedded in the DNA of Reactive Technologies and forms the core of its innovative capabilities. One of the key success factors of the company is its ability to create visionary scenarios by constantly analyzing Megatrends and creating revolutionary solutions to address these developments. Its GDMS technology is a vivid testament to this. One of the key megatrends in the energy sector is the increasing traction in embedded generation; as a result, remotely measuring and verifying the status of electrical assets along with offering visibility into electrical consumption is becoming increasingly important. Inertia decline in an electricity system causes even smaller changes in the overall power balance to have larger and longer effects on the safe operation of the grid. This results in a substantial increase in the amount of money needed to be spent by system operators to procure reserve services to deal with a more physically volatile grid. As the trend is Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

7 moving us away from reliance on fossil fuel power stations (for both baseload supply as well as energy flexibility) and towards distributed forms of generation and demand, there is an urgent and increasing need for advanced system inertia measurements along with accelerated response times to deal with grid destabilization events. Over the last 12 months, Reactive Technologies has expanded its GDMS solution to address this challenge for system operators. Reactive has developed and successfully launched GridMetrix, which is a powerful grid measurement and analytics platform that delivers unique system data and deep insights to help manage electric systems in real-time and drive critical grid investment and reserve services procurement decisions. GridMetrix is the first technology on the market capable of accurately measuring system inertia, along with other critical data points such as subsynchronous oscillation and regional frequency, which is imperative to enabling grid operators to maintain security of supply cost-effectively in an increasingly volatile energy environment. This again, is a true World First and Frost & Sullivan s finding is that Reactive s technology is undoubtedly the optimum solution in the global market to address these megatrends. This new level of insight will enable system operators of national power grids and distribution operators to see and understand the physical operation of their power grids and the impact of increasing amounts of renewable generation in a totally different way than before. Furthermore, Reactive are not just able to provide unique insights and measurements for system operators but also provide next generation control and response measures designed for a more volatile and unstable energy environment which requires system operators to deliver even higher levels of technical performance than currently exist in the marketplace. To achieve this, Reactive has developed a new grid control technology called Inertia Optimized Frequency Response (IOFR) which provides a new level of technical performance to system operators across the world. IOFR is able to detect a system destabilization event seconds before it would otherwise be detected. Once the event is detected, Reactive can dispatch real-time instructions, which take the magnitude of the system event into account, to physical assets which provide response services. The speed of response is swifter than even the fastest grid mechanism currently available. Implementation of Best Practices Reactive s excellence in energy management can be attributed to its deep rooted and sophisticated know-how in mass communications technologies and energy systems. The company successfully concluded an innovative demonstration project called Project Samuel with Scottish Southern Electric (SSE) and National Grid UK to do a national proof of concept of GDMS. Project Samuel was successfully executed in April 2016, demonstrating its ability to cost effectively send and receive data across the entire grid in the UK. Reactive completed an exciting follow up demonstration project with National Grid called Project SIM in July Project SIM proved that GridMetrix is able to measure grid Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

8 inertia accurately, which is a second World First for Reactive. Best Practice Example: Example from National Grid in GB This example of an interconnector dropping demonstrates a grid destabilization event and how Reactive s technology could resolve it faster than the existing market, therefore saving National Grid money they would have had to spend on purchasing additional ancillary services. In an increasingly volatile system, such fast responding services will be imperative to keeping the lights on and responding to events that could otherwise trigger system failures with negative consequences to business and consumers such as black-out events. In this case, once the interconnector drop occurs, the static DSR response only kicks in when the frequency level drops below 49.7 hertz. In Great Britain, this event/fault reaction is called the Static FFR (Firm Frequency Response) where an energy change occurs at a pre-set frequency and remains at a set level. National Grid UK also employs more advanced DSR response mechanisms to improve management of the system frequency closer to the fault time. These are called Dynamic FFR and EFR (Enhanced Frequency Response)". Currently EFR is considered a game changer being 2-4x more effective than static response. If you imagine that IOFR shaves the detection and response time down even further, the potential savings of IOFR become potentially significant. Source: Reactive Technologies & National Grid, UK Superior Price/Performance Value Reactive s IOFR technology is able to pinpoint the scale of a grid destabilization event and trigger a response faster than the fastest DSR mechanism currently available in the global market. Frost & Sullivan firmly believes this to be a step change in the energy industry and a boon to the utilities and system operators. There are two facets to this. Firstly, IOFR is able to provide material cost savings by minimizing utility expense on balancing services. For instance, the UK s National Grid currently spends 1bn a year on balancing Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

9 services to match power supply and demand and to maintain correct voltage and frequency across the network. According to National Grid, this amount is expected to double over the next five years. Reactive s GridMetrix technology is designed to significantly reduce this expenditure. The other aspect is the substantial reduction in cost and effort required to resolve a fault, ultimately leading to higher availability and opportunity cost savings. By offering utilities the luxury of exponentially reducing the response and reaction times, the company is set to bring about a transformation that would shake-up utilities perspective on grid management. Furthermore, the other key element in this intriguing equation is the cost savings bestowed upon the consumer balancing costs of utilities have a direct impact on the average household electricity bill. Industry Leading Customer Ownership Experience It is Frost & Sullivan s finding that Reactive s cutting edge technologies will be highly successful in helping system operators improve grid efficiency, maintain security of supply, reduce energy costs, and contribute to a sustainable use of resources. This will allow system operators to realize the full potential of the smart grid. Significant strides made by Reactive in this space demonstrate its relentless pursuit of enhancing the overall customer ownership experience. With Reactive s unique capabilities it is able to obtain an unparalleled insight into the grid, with which it is able to detect grid instability issues much sooner and take action before a problem is even flagged. With the IOFR technology, it empowers system operators to directly and uniquely manage significant de-stabilizing system events to maintain safe and effective operation of the grids. With GridMetrix, Reactive also allows them to assess and quantify the impact of renewable generation on the physical operation of the grid and to ensure that counter-measures are as commercially and technically effective as possible. The other cornerstone of Reactive's technology is GDMS and its inherent ability to seamlessly communicate with hard to reach assets. Since its messages are able to travel to wherever power travels, it benefits from extensive coverage using existing, secure infrastructure the electricity grid. This coverage is not only wide but also deep, in a sense that its messages reach all the way to individual assets at the end of the electricity line. Furthermore, Reactive's Tradenergy platform is based on a gain-share model, therefore Reactive is incentivized to extract as much value as possible for customers as the company s financial success is inherently tied to the financial gains of their customers. This ensures that it does the utmost to leverage value for its customers by optimizing them across all available opportunities. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

10 Conclusion Reactive Technologies continues to exert its leadership position by yet again proving its excellence in visionary innovation resulting in a positive customer impact. In spite of being a relatively young company, Reactive has firmly secured its place as a forerunner in the global distributed energy industry. Its strong R&D culture combined with extensive intellectual property, with 50 patents now granted and 90 patents pending, provides it with a unique edge in the market. It has an uncompromised focus on creating a difference in distributed energy industry with an eye for developing revolutionary and path breaking solutions. It is Frost & Sullivan s finding that Reactive is a company that is obsessed with continuous improvement; a trait that is expected to drive its success to even greater heights Because of its strong overall performance, Reactive Technologies is recognized with Frost & Sullivan s 2017 Company of the Year Award. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

11 Significance of Company of the Year To win the Company of the Year Award (i.e., to be recognized as a leader not only in your industry, but among your non-industry peers as well) requires a company to demonstrate excellence in growth, innovation, and leadership. This kind of excellence typically translates into superior performance in three key areas: demand generation, brand development, and competitive positioning. These areas serve as the foundation of a company s future success and prepare it to deliver on the two criteria that define the Company of the Year Award (Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact). Understanding Company of the Year As discussed above, driving demand, brand strength, and competitive differentiation all play a critical role in delivering unique value to customers. This three-fold focus, however, must ideally be complemented by an equally rigorous focus on Visionary Innovation & Performance to enhance Customer Impact. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

12 Key Benchmarking Criteria For the Company of the Year Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently evaluated two key factors Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact according to the criteria identified below. Visionary Innovation & Performance Criterion 1: Addressing Unmet Needs Criterion 2: Visionary Scenarios through Megatrends Criterion 3: Implementation Best Practices Criterion 4: Blue Ocean Strategy Criterion 5: Financial Performance Customer Impact Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience Criterion 5: Brand Equity Best Practices Award Analysis for Reactive Technologies Decision Support Scorecard To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation. Ratings guidelines are illustrated below. RATINGS GUIDELINES The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact (i.e., these are the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the definitions for each criterion are provided beneath the scorecard.). The research team confirms the veracity of this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which confirms that small changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a significant change in the overall relative rankings of the companies. The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

13 interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key participants as Competitor 2 and Competitor 3. Measurement of 1 10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent) Company of the Year Visionary Innovation & Performance Customer Impact Average Rating Reactive Technologies Competitor Competitor Visionary Innovation & Performance Criterion 1: Addressing Unmet Needs Requirement: Implementing a robust process to continuously unearth customers unmet or under-served needs, and creating the products or solutions to address them effectively Criterion 2: Visionary Scenarios through Megatrends Requirement: Incorporating long-range, macro-level scenarios into the innovation strategy, thereby enabling first-to-market growth opportunity solutions Criterion 3: Implementation of Best Practices Requirement: Best-in-class strategy implementation characterized by processes, tools, or activities that generate a consistent and repeatable level of success. Criterion 4: Blue Ocean Strategy Requirement: Strategic focus on creating a leadership position in a potentially uncontested market space, manifested by stiff barriers to entry for competitors Criterion 5: Financial Performance Requirement: Strong overall business performance in terms of revenues, revenue growth, operating margin, and other key financial metrics Customer Impact Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar offerings in the market. Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience Requirement: Customers feel they are buying the most optimal solution that addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints. Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company s product or service and have a positive experience throughout the life of the product or service. Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

14 Customer Impact BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH Criterion 5: Brand Equity Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty. Decision Support Matrix Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard, analysts then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at best-in-class levels. High Reactive Technologies Competitor 2 Competitor 3 Low Low Visionary Innovation & Performance High Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

15 Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices Frost & Sullivan analysts follow a 10-step process to evaluate Award candidates and assess their fit with select best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity of the Awards are based on close adherence to this process. STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT 1 Monitor, target, and screen Identify Award recipient candidates from around the globe Conduct in-depth industry research Identify emerging sectors Scan multiple geographies Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all bestpractice criteria 2 Perform 360-degree research Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners Assess candidates fit with best-practice criteria Rank all candidates Matrix positioning of all candidates performance relative to one another 3 Invite thought leadership in best practices Perform in-depth examination of all candidates Confirm best-practice criteria Examine eligibility of all candidates Identify any information gaps Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates 4 Initiate research director review Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles Brainstorm ranking options Invite multiple perspectives on candidates performance Update candidate profiles Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper 5 Assemble panel of industry experts Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders Share findings Strengthen cases for candidate eligibility Prioritize candidates Refined list of prioritized Award candidates 6 Conduct global industry review Build consensus on Award candidates eligibility Hold global team meeting to review all candidates Pressure-test fit with criteria Confirm inclusion of all eligible candidates Final list of eligible Award candidates, representing success stories worldwide 7 Perform quality check Develop official Award consideration materials Perform final performance benchmarking activities Write nominations Perform quality review High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees successes 8 Reconnect with panel of industry experts Finalize the selection of the best-practice Award recipient Review analysis with panel Build consensus Select winner Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria 9 Communicate recognition Inform Award recipient of Award recognition Present Award to the CEO Inspire the organization for continued success Celebrate the recipient s performance Announcement of Award and plan for how recipient can use the Award to enhance the brand 10 Take strategic action Upon licensing, company able to share Award news with stakeholders and customers Coordinate media outreach Design a marketing plan Assess Award s role in future strategic planning Widespread awareness of recipient s Award status among investors, media personnel, and employees Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

16 The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards Research Methodology Frost & Sullivan s 360-degree research methodology represents the analytical rigor of our research process. It offers a 360-degree view of industry challenges, trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies. Too often companies make important growth decisions based on a narrow understanding of their environment, leading to errors of both omission and commission. Successful growth strategies are founded on a thorough understanding of market, technical, economic, financial, customer, best practices, and demographic analyses. The integration of these research disciplines into the 360-degree research methodology provides an evaluation platform for benchmarking industry 360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN THE CHAOS participants and for identifying those performing at best-in-class levels. About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation, and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages more than 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses, and the investment community from 45 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth