Solar + Storage Project Walshausen – suena energy and Prokon implement co-location solution as part of innovation tender
- Pia Armbruster
- Sep 30
- 6 min read
The combination of solar parks and co-located battery storage systems is gaining strategic importance in the context of the energy transition. This approach offers significant potential to enhance system flexibility, improve grid stability, and increase the economic viability of projects – making it a key component of a renewable energy system.
At the same time, co-location projects come with specific challenges: regulatory complexity, technical coordination, and market integration require tailored solutions. These market dynamics highlight the growing need for intelligent commercial integration of renewables and storage. Rather than relying solely on infrastructure expansion, future flexibility must increasingly be achieved through optimized trading and automated multi-market participation.
This case study presents an innovative co-location project implemented by suena energy in collaboration with Prokon Regenerative Energien eg (Prokon), as part of an innovation tender by the German Federal Network Agency. In this forward-looking partnership, the two companies are realizing one of the first projects in Germany to fully automate the economic and technical integration of a photovoltaic (PV) system and battery storage – from optimization and trading strategy to market execution.  About ProkonProkon Regenerative Energien eG is one of Europe’s largest energy cooperatives and a pioneer in sustainable energy since 1995. With over 400 wind turbines in Germany, Poland, and Finland, Prokon is making a significant contribution to the energy transition. The company’s portfolio includes onshore wind, photovoltaics, biomethane projects, and stand-alone battery storage systems, demonstrating its strong commitment to diversified renewable assets. Prokon’s mission is a 100% renewable energy supply – both as an asset operator and as a true green energy provider. The solar-plus-storage project in Walshausen, scheduled to go live in the last quarter of 2025, reflects this vision. Together with suena energy, Prokon is actively exploring the potential of co-located battery storage in order to assess future investments in this technology. The Role of suena energyWithin this co-location setup, suena energy is responsible for the full commercialization of the battery storage system. As an experienced optimization partner, suena combines technical expertise in algorithmic energy trading with practical knowledge of operational integration to enable efficient, compliant, and economically viable participation in electricity markets. suena contributes to this project through:
Trading OptimizationBased on these forecasts, the Energy Trading Autopilot determines the optimal trading schedule across day-ahead, intraday auction, and continuous intraday markets – dynamically adapting to price fluctuations within the battery’s operating limits. Trading decisions follow a structured sequence: planning for day-ahead participation based on market and weather forecasts, followed by adjustments in the intraday auction, and finally real-time fine-tuning through continuous intraday trading in 15-minute intervals. This strategy allows for ongoing optimization of the dispatch schedule and flexible responses to market dynamics and forecast deviations.
ForcastingThe suena Energy Trading Autopilot leverages advanced forecasting models based on market prices, weather data, and PV output, complemented by AI-supported battery models that account for degradation and technical constraints.
Automated Trading ExecutionBids and offers are placed and executed on the energy markets within milliseconds. This ensures precise and fully automated trading – even under volatile conditions.
Transparent OperationsA real-time dashboard provides full transparency for Prokon, including:
Balancing Group Management & Market AccessThrough suena’s EPEX membership and trading licenses, the co-location project has direct access to relevant electricity markets suena energy serves as the balancing group manager. The project is fully integrated into suena energy’s balancing group and is actively managed within it.
Future Market IntegrationThe system is already configured for participation in positive secondary reserve markets (aFRR), in line with the requirements of the innovation tender. As part of the project, the provision of positive aFRR is being actively tested for this co-location project to evaluate operational and commercial integration.
Project RelevanceThis project addresses core structural challenges in renewable energy integration. It demonstrates how intelligent, automated trading enables the effective use of solar energy – even under grid constraints and during low-price periods. The solution is scalable and transferable to an increasing number of co-location scenarios across Europe. By maximizing the value of variable renewable generation through intelligent, automated commercialization and the successful navigation of regulatory and technical hurdles, the project serves as a model for hybrid energy systems. It contributes to a resilient, flexible, and economically viable energy infrastructure, marks a clear step toward a truly sustainable electricity sector.
Project Overview
 ChallengesCo-location projects within the framework of the German innovation tender face significant regulatory and economic challenges that heavily impact their profitability and scalability.
Regulatory requirements permit the battery to charge exclusively from the connected renewable energy source – charging from the grid is prohibited. This excludes traditional arbitrage strategies such as charging at low night-time prices. Participation in ancillary service markets is also limited: negative aFRR, which requires grid charging, is not allowed, thereby considerably curtailing revenue opportunities. However, by storing solar power and selling it at more favorable market times, a compliant form of arbitrage remains possible. To make this profitable, the system must rely on accurate generation forecasting, dynamic multi-market optimization, and precise real-time control. Forecast deviations, caused by, for example, weather changes, can lead to balancing energy costs and erode margins.
Another major economic barrier is the operational complexity: Effectively coordinating the interaction between solar generation and battery storage at a shared grid connection point requires precise planning and control. This includes the continuous processing of high-resolution forecasts for PV output, battery availability and status, as well as market prices. These forecasts form the basis for dynamic operating strategies that align charging and discharging cycles with market opportunities and regulatory constraints. Without intelligent automation and forecast-based optimization, the technical management becomes labor-intensive and error-prone – raising costs and limiting the scalability of such hybrid systems.
SolutionTo address the regulatory and economic challenges of innovation tender co-location projects, suena energy leverages its Energy Trading Autopilot: a fully automated, forecast-based optimization system tailored to the specific project setup. The Autopilot enables compliant arbitrage by storing self-generated solar energy and selling it strategically across day-ahead-, intraday auction-, and continuous trading markets. This intelligent coordination of PV and battery ensures adherence to the renewable-only charging rule, unlocks revenue despite limited ancillary service access, and mitigates balancing costs from forecast deviations. Real-time multi-market optimization enables continuous adjustments to the system’s operational and trading strategy in case of deviations between forecasts and actual conditions, and targeted control of feed-in optimizes grid usage to avoid curtailments and make the most efficient use of available network capacity. This case study demonstrates: The economic and grid-related synergies of combining storage and PV systems can only be fully realized through intelligent, fully automated multi-market commercialization. The suena energy Trading Autopilot enables exactly that.
suena energy x Prokon: Project Phases
IImpactThe project demonstrates how co-location of solar and battery storage can be successfully integrated into the power system through intelligent, automated commercialization. suena energy’s multi-market strategy reduces curtailment, offsets forecast deviations in real time, and supports grid stability – without requiring additional infrastructure. By adhering to innovation tender rules such as renewable-only charging and aFRR constraints, the project shows how regulatory compliance and grid-friendly operation can go hand in hand. Through optimized market timing, predictive control, and degradation-aware operation, the system improves economic performance and ensures transparency via a live dashboard. This makes it a strong model for future hybrid projects. The collaboration with Prokon illustrates how automated, data-driven commercialization can reduce operational risk, increase revenues, and extend asset lifetime – serving as a hands-off, scalable solution for similar developments.
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