Energy management is changing quickly. A common idea is that to adapt to all these changes, a single, monolithic system should handle everything – from local, on-site control of an asset to high-level financial portfolio optimization in the cloud. But as systems scale and the rate of change increases, the limitations of an all-in-one approach become clear.

Companion.energyCompanion.energy offers AI-driven software that helps industrial companies manage, forecast, and optimize their energy use in real time, bridging the gap between energy procurement and operations.

Their platform enables 10–30% energy cost savings, greater use of renewables, and improved risk management by centralizing energy data and automating decision-making for complex environments.

Learn more about the platform on their website, or read more about the integration with the Teleport. and WiththegridWe’re technology company specializing in monitoring of grid infrastructure and providing secure control of energy assets. Our flagship product, the Teleport Gateway, is a secure asset controller that connects distributed energy resources – such as solar PV panels, wind turbines, batteries, and EV chargers – to enable remote control. It is used by leading energy companies and utilities in Europe to unlock the benefits of flexibility.

Question? Contact us. recently chose a different path. Together, we offer a modular architecture that separates the physical control layer from the financial intelligence layer. This approach allows each system to do what it does best, giving industrial players and energy providers the ability to scale with confidence.

Thomas Vyncke, Co-founder of Companion.energy:

Our role is to combine real-time energy data with the right contract details and market signals.

Paul Mignot, CEO of Withthegrid:

We’ve always focused on the on-site part: connecting securely to assets, and adding local control strategies to protect the physical grid connection and meet grid operator standards.

We’ll highlight how that approach works by looking at a joint project with Belgian Eco Energy (BEE). Their story is a clear example of why two specialized solutions might be beneficial.

The challenge: Balancing local reliability with financial opportunity

Energy infrastructure isn’t simple. It involves energy assets – wind turbines, solar panels, batteries – that need strict control in real time. At the same time maximizing the value of energy assets involves being able to adjust to rapidly shifting price signals and being able to tap into all (and new) energy markets.

Some companies prefer a single integrated system, covering everything from physical connections to financial optimization. That method may suit simpler setups or uniform assets. But for organizations managing diverse portfolios across multiple sites, markets, and contract types, a modular setup is often more robust.

So, how do you ensure local reliability while reacting to dynamic market conditions?

We believe the answer is to split responsibilities between two specialized layers. By separating the physical from the financial, you reduce complexity and risk. Each layer can evolve and improve independently, creating a more resilient and transparent structure.

The two layers of an EMS, explained

Local hardware for on-site control

This is the foundation at the physical site, the layer that directly communicates with assets like solar panels, wind turbines, batteries or EV chargers. The Teleport Gateway is installed on-site to act as a real-time controller. Its job is to:

• Read and securely send asset data to the cloud.
• Receive, prioritize, and carry out control commands (like charging a battery or reducing production).
• Operate autonomously when the internet connection is lost, maintaining safety and stability.
• Manage behind-the-meter control functions, like using a battery for peak shaving or preventing a solar farm from feeding more back into the grid than contractually allowed.

This layer ensures the facility always runs within its physical and contractual limits, responding instantly to on-site changes.

Cloud-based forecasting and financial optimization

Once real-time energy data is received through the local Teleport gateway, Companion.energy translates consumption and production signals into optimal steering setpoints. This process includes:

• Integrating customer-specific contracts (e.g. grid tariffs, PPAs, supply agreements)
• Forecasting consumption, generation, and market prices (e.g. day-ahead, imbalance)
• Generating financially optimal control signals across timeframes, markets, and asset types
• Coordinating actions across multiple sites to manage exposure at the portfolio level
• Dispatching steering signals back to the local gateway for execution

This optimization layer ensures that local asset behavior aligns with broader business objectives — whether it’s minimizing exposure to volatile prices, unlocking value from flexible assets, or improving renewable energy integration.

Putting theory into practice: The BEE HIVE case study

Our work with Belgian Eco Energy (BEE)Belgian Eco Energy (BEE) is a 100% Belgian energy company that develops, builds, and operates local renewable energy projects – including wind, solar, and green heat plants – for businesses.

BEE supplies sustainable, locally generated electricity and heat, helping companies achieve their sustainability and cost-saving goals through tailored solutions and direct energy delivery from its own facilities and network.

Learn more about BEE on their website. shows what this two-layer approach can achieve. As a 100% Belgian, family-owned energy supplier, BEE provides locally generated renewable power to companies aiming to cut costs and improve sustainability. Recently, they launched the BEE HIVE,BEE HIVE is BEE’s advanced AI-driven energy management system that optimizes energy consumption and production to significantly reduce costs and even generate revenue. It smartly aligns your usage with local renewable energy availability and market conditions, enabling you to consume, inject, or charge energy at the most advantageous times. a flagship flexibility proposition to unlock the full value of renewable energy assets.

BEE’s goals were clear:

• Maintain high on-site reliability and meet grid operator requirements
• Gather timely, accurate data for cloud-based forecasting.
• Respect local power limits and constraints, including situations where feed-in might need to be held below contractual values.

Elias Vandeputte, Flexibility Manager at BEE:

The strength of the BEE HIVE lies in the “full stack approach”. We combine real-time on-site control with cloud-based forecasting and optimization. That’s the only way to react fast and smart while ensuring reliability on the ground.

Implementation and integration

The integration was fast and efficient. We deployed Withthegrid’s Teleport devices on-site to manage real-time control with robust fallback mechanisms. Simultaneously, Companion.energy’s cloud platform began receiving live data and optimizing asset behavior across day-ahead and imbalance markets. Because the two layers were onboarded independently but synchronised through an API, the process was smooth for BEE’s operations team.

More importantly, the model goes beyond traditional reactive steering based on published spot prices. While many players wait until prices settle, reacting only after negative prices are confirmed, the BEE HIVE operates a fully integrated, predictive setup. By forecasting price trends up to two days ahead and aligning control with market expectations, the system can already curtail or activate assets proactively, even before prices are officially confirmed.

This end-to-end alignment between forecasting, nomination, local control, and market steering ensures maximum incentive compatibility. It also avoids the common pitfall where reactive steering causes upstream imbalance that must be corrected later.

With this integrated model, BEE optimizes across the full value chain, from forecast to financial result, resulting in a cleaner and more efficient market position.

The outcome

Since launching on January 1st, BEE has rapidly scaled to 50 MW of steerable assets through the BEE HIVE platform. They’ve demonstrated clear financial upside, particularly during extreme market events like Mother’s Day 2025, when they successfully avoided negative pricing losses (–463 €/MWh) and even generated an income of 55 €/MWh by combining smart nomination, curtailment, and real-time imbalance steering.

In April and May, BEE HIVE clients received 50 €/MWh for their (solar) injection, making injection profitable again and radically changing the market.

BEE now benefits from a clean separation of responsibilities, while offering a fully integrated model: Withthegrid ensures robust, fail-safe local execution, while Companion.energy drives financial performance through forecasting and optimization. Most importantly, the system is built to scale. As BEE onboards new sites, Teleports can be installed quickly, and the optimization engine adjusts accordingly.

That flexibility is exactly what a multi-location renewable operator needs.

Conclusion: A structure built for scale and resilience

As energy systems grow more complex, the question is no longer if we should digitalise, but how we should structure that digitalisation. While an all-in-one system might seem appealing, our experience shows that separating local control from cloud-based forecasting and optimization offers greater resilience, transparency, and long-term flexibility.

Each layer can focus on what it does best:

• On-site systems ensure real-time, fail-safe operations
• Cloud-based intelligence drives financial performance across markets and portfolios

This modular approach scales with complexity — and ensures that no single system is stretched too thin.
If you’re navigating similar challenges, or just exploring how this model could work in your context, we’d be happy to talk.