CyberNoc offers a comprehensive set of advanced control features for energy asset management designed to maximize operational efficiency, performance, and the reliability of energy assets. These smart control mechanisms are essential for Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), enabling operators to maintain balance, respond to market signals, and avoid costly penalties.
Deviation Fighter: real-time precision control
At the core of CyberNoc’s control architecture is the Deviation Fighter, an intelligent control system that combines open-loop speed with precise closed-loop algorithms. By continuously monitoring real-time asset data and comparing it with scheduled behaviour, the system detects deviations instantly and initiates corrective actions within seconds.
Unexpected deviations can arise from multiple factors, including:
- Suboptimal controller tuning settings
- A malfunctioning control valve
- Insufficient filtering of the measurement signal
- Process disturbances that exceed the control’s regulatory capabilities
CyberNoc continuously monitors each connected asset and compares real-time performance against planned schedules. If deviations exceed predefined tolerances, automated control algorithms are triggered immediately. CyberNoc’s Deviation Fighter automatically responds to these events by adjusting setpoints or even dispatching additional power from other assets within the portfolio to keep it in balance. This ensures system-wide stability and helps operators comply with balancing market requirements (FCR, aFRR, mFRR) while minimizing imbalance risks.
Core capabilities include:
- Real-time monitoring and deviation detection continues asset performance tracking ensures immediate identification of discrepancies and rapid response.
- Automated corrective actions: setpoints are dynamically adjusted or additional assets are dispatched to restore balance.
- Notifications and alerts: operators receive instant alerts and notifications when control thresholds are exceeded.
- Ancillary services control (aFRR and mFRR): CyberNoc verifies active reserve commitments within the specific interval and automatically sends control signals to meet market requirements, including strict ramping constraints.
- Reservations control logic: integrated databases provide full visibility into planned dispatch schedules of individual assets and available power reserves that may be used by the control algorithms. The system periodically checks whether the asset has any planned reservation in a product period. If enabled, it verifies if reservations for selected markets are active in the current interval and sends control signals to the local asset controller.
Direct control functionalities for energy assets
CyberNoc enables direct, real-time control of energy assets across multiple technologies, ensuring seamless participation in wholesale energy markets and balancing markets.
Main features include:
- Real-time data exchange: CyberNoc uses communication devices like Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) or gateway devices to collect and transmit real-time data from energy assets. This data is used for monitoring and controlling all kinds of assets such as hydropower plants, battery energy storage systems (BESS), photovoltaic (PV) systems, HVAC systems, etc.
- Smart control signals architecture: The system supports a wide range of control signals, enabling efficient participation in all balancing services (FCR, aFRR, mFRR) and wholesale energy markets with a minimum set of control datapoints.
- IoT integration: CyberNoc's modular IoT gateways act as the high-performance hub for data exchange. It can deal with all kinds of monitoring data like power, reactive power, temperature, voltage, state-of-charge, etc. The information exchange supports real-time data points as well as schedules to satisfy all use cases of today’s power industry. CyberNoc’s IoT integration supports state-of-the-art security requirements in the IT and operational technology environments. This enables in optimizing the performance of energy equipment using real-time information and power forecast.
Why advanced control features matter for VPP operators
For virtual power plant operators and energy traders, advanced control capabilities are critical to:
- Maintain portfolio balance in real time
- Avoid imbalance penalties
- Maximize revenues in balancing markets
- Ensure compliance with grid and market requirements
- Increase asset performance and lifetime
By combining real-time intelligence, automated control, and market-aware logic, CyberNoc enables the operation of assets with maximum precision, flexibility, and profitability.
