Startup of the month: How Slovakia’s FUERGY aims to recharge the outdated energy sector with AI-powered solutions

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Energy storage systems are becoming increasingly significant as the world seeks to transition towards more sustainable forms of energy. 

These systems enable the storage of energy generated by renewable sources such as solar and wind, which are intermittent and cannot be controlled by demand. 

The storage of this energy allows for its use when it is needed instead of relying on traditional power sources that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

As the world faces an energy crisis, it’s time to explore new and innovative ways to store energy for future use. 

Fortunately, startups are stepping up the game with solutions that promise to make renewable energy more accessible and affordable for everyone.

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Image credits: FUERGY

Meet FUERGY! 

Slovakia-based FUERGY provides automated and predictive energy systems for managing energy production and consumption, minimising costs, and maximising the use of energy resources. 

As part of our ongoing “Startup of the Month” series, we had the opportunity to interview Radoslav Štompf, the CEO of FUERGY. 

During our conversation, we gained insight into the inspiration behind the company’s creation, as well as its technology and business model.

Wants everyone to be part of the energy market

Talking about the inspiration behind starting FUERGY, Radoslav Štompf says, “I’ve been working in the energy sector my whole professional life. Before co-founding FUERGY, I was doing energy trading and optimisation for large industrial companies.” 

“A lot of processes were done manually. I had an idea of how to automate the processes so that even smaller companies or households could afford the energy optimisation solutions. But I wouldn’t be able to do it on my own.”

“Luckily, I met people who shared my vision for the future of energy and have the skills and experience necessary to translate the vision into reality,” he says.

Besides Radoslav Štompf, the FUERGY team comprises of:

  • CTO Rastislav Kuba – An expert in energy hardware 
  • COO & CFO Branislav Šafárik – a visionary with strong business development skills 
  • CMO Vladimír Miškovský – a marketing guru and business strategist
  •  CIO Branislav Kopún – responsible for software development.

Addressing electricity wastage 

FUERGY addresses the issue of electricity wastage and associated costs along the energy supply chain. 

The company’s proprietary software monitors electricity production and consumption at the customer’s site, analyses the needs of the energy supplier, and assesses the situation in the power grid. 

Based on this analysis, the software instructs the technologies placed behind the customer’s smart metre to act accordingly.

FUERGY Web application
Image credits: FUERGY

FUERGY’s core solution

Explaining FUERGY’s energy management solutions, Štompf says, “The core of our solutions is our software development platform that we have built from scratch. Our software platform provides just the functionalities which are specific to energy management that we can easily combine.”

Among its solutions are trAId for enhanced energy source management, mAInchart for energy suppliers, flexibility brAIn for end-customers management of energy-intensive technologies,. brAIn, which is a modular battery storage system, is also the company’s flagship product. 

To ensure optimal physical processing of instructions, the company also developed a FUERGY control unit, which serves as a communication interface between its software and hardware.

The control unit allows the company to use 100 per cent of the battery storage capacity with maximum care when it comes to battery lifespan. 

“The rest of the storage is configured using third-party components that offer optimal technical specifications and cost vs. performance ratio,” says Štompf.

One of the main features, according to Štompf, that sets FUERGY’s software apart is its AI capability which plays a crucial role in their prediction algorithms. 

By accurately predicting energy consumption and production at a customer’s site and the situation in the power grid, electricity can be better managed. 

“Our software is unique for the architecture that perfectly suits the energy management needs and makes it easy and fast for us to customise and deploy our software solutions,” he adds. 

“Today, we can manage all the battery storage systems and renewables that have already been installed. All we need to do is to plug these systems into our FUERGY control unit and interconnect them with our software,” he says.

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Image credits: FUERGY

Business model

Throwing light on their business model, Štompf shares, “Our business model is based mainly on the success fee from the provision of non-certified ancillary services.”

Typically, Certified ancillary services are deployed by power grid operators to maintain the stability and reliability of the power grid in response to real-time differences in power supply and demand. 

Non-certified ancillary services are provided at the customer’s site without a contract with the power grid operator and without the need to comply with the technical conditions.

FUERGY’s software detects whether there is a surplus or shortage of electricity in the power grid and instructs the customer’s technologies to help stabilise the power grid. 

For example, it may instruct the batteries to start charging or discharging or to decrease or increase the technology power output.

FUERGY provides non-certified ancillary services by actively regulating the battery storage and free capacities of the customer’s technologies, which would otherwise stay underutilised.

“Our regulation does not affect the operation of the building, customer’s comfort, or quality of the production.”

“Non-certified ancillary services are more flexible, allow end-customers to monetise their free capacities and most importantly, they are a cheaper and emission-free alternative to fossil fuel sources,” says Štompf.

This allows FUERGY to generate profit for replacing fossil fuel sources, share this profit with customers, get the most out of clean energy technologies, use resources without unnecessary waste, and achieve great synergies for the benefit of everyone, the power grid, energy suppliers, end-customers, and the environment.

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Image credits: FUERGY

Optimising energy usage

According to Štompf, FUERGY’s energy management solutions utilise data-based decision-making to optimise energy usage for customers and reduce costs. 

By autonomously determining the best course of action based on the energy source and financial impact, FUERGY’s software can instruct batteries to discharge during electricity shortages in the power grid, reduce technology power output, and use the maximum amount of produced green electricity. 

This lowers the customer’s energy consumption, helps the power grid cope with shortages without the need for fossil fuel ancillary services, and reduces the customer’s energy bill. 

“The capacity of our battery storage system brAIn is also customised to customers’ energy consumption patterns. It charges and discharges constantly throughout the day so we can use 100% of its capacity,” he adds.

“It charges with power grid surpluses and frees up maximum capacity to store solar surpluses, resulting in the use of 90-100 per cent of all electricity produced by a PV system, compared to the regular 50-60 per cent.”

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Image credits: FUERGY

FUERGY’s successful projects 

FUERGY installed its first high-capacity battery storage in Slovakia in 2020. While doing business with the energy provider Slovenské elektrárne – energetické služby, FUERGY has already installed more than 7 MWh of intelligent battery storage systems. 

Another notable project according to Štompf is the implementation of their software solution, flexibility brAIn, for Železiarne Podbrezová, one of the biggest steel producers in Slovakia. 

This software solution regulates a 35 MW electric arc furnace based on the situation in the power grid. 

Using online data and AI predictions, the FUERGY software indicates periods during which there is a shortage of electricity in the power grid, and the operator of the furnace evaluates its production capacities. 

If the furnace is sufficiently heated up, it turns off until the end of the indicated time. This instant reduction of the customer’s energy consumption helps to stabilise the power grid and generates financial benefits. 

The company is currently working with Železiarne Podbrezová, residential buildings, shopping malls, manufacturing plants, Slovak National Football Stadium, the biomass combined heat and power producer Termonova, chemical plant Chemosvit Energochem, and energy company Greenbat.

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Image credits: FUERGY

Creating sub-brand, marketplace, and…..! 

FUERGY is currently focused on offering tailor-made solutions to business clients through their Energy-as-aService model, which combines third-party financial funds seeking green investment opportunities with customers who have high energy consumption and regulation potential. 

“For this model and customer group we would like to enlarge our production capacities and speed up the installation processes,” Štompf adds. 

Additionally, FUERGY plans to enter the market of households and smaller companies, where there is high interest in their solutions, by creating a new sub-brand and offering more standardised configurations of battery storage systems. 

Finally, the company aims to create an energy platform that would create a marketplace for energy sharing. 

This platform would be a game changer in the energy sector and would allow customers to buy and sell energy within their community, contributing to the overall reduction of carbon emissions.

Funding, expansion, and hiring

To date, the company has raised €18M in funding from Pro Partners Holding investment group and angel investors. FUERGY plans to expand its operations to the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary in the next two to three years. 

“If everything goes well, after this expansion we would be able to continuously start implementing our platform and battery solutions in the rest of the EU countries, including the Netherlands,” says Štompf.

“We are hiring across all of the departments as we have many projects in progress that we would like to work on more intensively,” he says.

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Vigneshwar Ravichandran

Vigneshwar has been a News Reporter at Silicon Canals since 2018. A seasoned technology journalist with almost a decade of experience, he covers the European startup ecosystem, from AI and Web3 to clean energy and health tech. Previously, he was a content producer and consumer product reviewer for leading Indian digital media, including NDTV, GizBot, and FoneArena. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Instrumentation in Chennai and a Diploma in Broadcasting Journalism in New Delhi.

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