To achieve the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement, the Netherlands must switch to sustainable energy as quickly as possible. This is fastest using (big) data. The company of Richard Bosgraaf, Marcel van den Berg and Ad Schellevis helps with this.
“There are more and more heat pumps, solar panels and charging stations for electric cars, which burden the grid. You want to plan the replacement of electricity cables well, because the capacity of grid operators and the number of technicians is limited," Bosgraaf explains. By linking existing data to its own measurements with smart software, ValueA can display and predict the lifespan of power cables, the grid load, capacity and utilization rate. If we stop using gas in the future, cooking and heating will become more common using electric power, which will require strengthening the energy grid. ValueA can use the software to provide useful and cost-saving advice on the installation of charging stations, for example, and to ease the transition.
The idea for ValueA arose in 2012, when Bosgraaf was involved as a self-employed person in a project by Energie Data Service Nederland (EDSN) to accommodate all grid operators there. There were just no tools for efficiently processing and combining existing data with which to respond to the consequences of the energy transition. That became a project in itself. Van den Berg and later Schellevis, both working in the energy sector, joined Bosgraaf to further shape the idea as a design team.
At that time, the 'smart energy meter' came onto the market. Bosgraaf: “Our idea was to process data from those meters with a new company and support it at a national level with modern technology. After a year, the first customer was received, and from that collaboration the new step of also making predictions for the future arose.
ValueA is now in discussions with all grid operators. “They are all enthusiastic. Although all three of us were self-employed and not unfamiliar with entrepreneurship, there is a lot of new stuff involved in having our own company!” The gentlemen provided the necessary financing themselves. "This way we could invest time without having to produce immediate output. We are already moving towards a scale-up: the product is finished, now we are going to expand the team.”
ValueA works with partners, for example to develop apps for technicians in the field. There are currently only three of them, but the intention is to expand. The focus is now on the Netherlands, followed hopefully by Belgium and Germany. Bosgraaf is already seeing developments in this area in Germany: "But I have not yet seen the services we offer."