The next revenue layer for battery storage.
Since 2026, the Swiss grid pays every quarter-hour for positions that support the system. The Orvio signal shows when charging, discharging and curtailing pay – and measures what the dispatch delivered.
Storage earns when it stands on the right side of the right quarter-hour. As more storage connects, the established revenue streams tighten. The durable layer underneath is the imbalance market: since 2026, the single-price regime remunerates system-supportive positions at the imbalance energy price, every quarter-hour. The same logic prices curtailment – when the system is long and prices are low or negative, reducing PV feed-in is itself a system-supportive position. Capturing that layer is a timing problem: direction decides, and it changes from one quarter-hour to the next.
How Orvio fits
Orvio forecasts the direction of the Swiss control area and the imbalance energy price at 15-minute resolution, refreshed every 15 minutes. For storage and solar, the signal translates directly into the schedule: charge – or curtail feed-in – when the system is long and prices are low; discharge when the system is short and pays for it. The signal arrives over the REST API or on the platform, timestamped and scored.
Every dispatch decision can be examined after the fact: the Portfolio Impact backtest replays the signal against realized Swissgrid data and shows the measured net effect of acting on it – including the quarter-hours where it would have cost.
82% directional hit-rate when Orvio forecasts the system at least 100 MW short or long.
- 68%
- Any signal
- 76%
- Forecast ≥ 50 MW
- 82%
- Forecast ≥ 100 MW
- 90%
- Forecast ≥ 200 MW
T-15 system-imbalance forecast vs realized Swissgrid data, last 90 days (about 2,240 quarter-hours at the 100 MW threshold), against a 54% naive baseline. The stronger the forecast signal, the more reliable the direction.
What the accuracy is worth
Modelled on the last 90 days of realized Swiss prices, positioning on the signal returned roughly €80–110 per MWh placed – net of the quarter-hours it got wrong. Value scales with how often the direction is right, so each additional point of T-15 hit-rate is worth on the order of €6,000 per MW per year of dedicated capacity. The return is episodic rather than steady: the strongest tenth of quarter-hours – the extreme-price windows – carries over half of the total, and catching those windows is what the signal is for.
These are illustrative, gross figures – modelled from Orvio's forecast against realized imbalance and intraday prices, not executed trades. They apply in the clear-signal quarter-hours – when the forecast flags at least 100 MW short or long, about a quarter of all quarter-hours – not around the clock. They sit before cycle cost and competing revenue such as FCR and arbitrage, assume a price-taker position, and reflect a 90-day window that shifts with the season. Orvio delivers the signal and the measured impact; positioning and its risk stay with the operator.
What changes in practice
For storage and solar operators, the imbalance market becomes schedulable: a validated directional signal per quarter-hour, weighted by expected price, with an impact measured on realized data rather than asserted.
See what flexibility could earn.
Book a demo and see the signal on live data, applied to real assets.
Pricing scales with the portfolio. Book a demo for a quote.
FAQ
Do we need new market access?
Participation runs through the existing market access and balance-group structure – any controllable asset can follow the signal from day one.
How accurate is the signal?
Over the trailing 90 days, the quarter-hour forecast identified the direction of the Swiss system correctly in 82% of the quarter-hours where it signaled a clear short or long of at least 100 MW – scored against realized Swissgrid data.
Does Orvio control our asset?
No. Orvio delivers the signal and the recommendation; dispatch stays in the operator's own systems and under its control. Deeper automation is on the roadmap.
How do we integrate the signal?
Over a REST API with scoped keys, or directly on the platform. Every value carries its timestamp, lead time, and score.