Heat pumps will actively support system operators congestion management. Photo: BDH
Bayreuth/Berlin, 10 December 2020 - Transmission system operators 50Hertz and TenneT will launch joint future-proof concepts for the integration of small decentralised producers, consumers and storage systems into congestion management in Germany. In this context, end-consumers have the possibility to actively support the system operators' congestion management with the aid of aggregated flexibility potentials and as such contribute to the energy transition. The flexible systems considered include heat pumps, batteries, electric vehicles or micro CHP plants.
One approach to be tested within the project is the use of the Crowd Balancing Platform developed by Equigy. On this blockchain-based platform, private households and owners of electric vehicles can offer the flexible capacity of their systems on the ancillary service markets for the stabilisation of the power grid via their electricity suppliers or aggregators.
Dr Dirk Biermann, Chief Markets and System Operations Officer at 50Hertz: "With the continuing digitisation of the energy transition, the roll-out of smart metering systems and the development of new communication standards and interfaces, there will be more and more options in the next decade for even small-scale flexibilities to be integrated into our processes. On the one hand, we require scalable and efficient platforms for this purpose; these will have to be able to aggregate hundreds of thousands of units and process an enormous, continuous data stream. On the other hand, it is necessary, to further develop coordinated and energy-efficient processes among all system operators. Both topics will be handled within the project with the involvement of other partners."
Tim Meyerjürgens, COO of TenneT, explained: "In a sustainable energy future, we also need private households to help maintain the security of supply. With the Equigy blockchain platform and the cooperation with European transmission system operators, we clear the way for the use of small decentralised flexibilities in Europe. This is an important contribution to sector coupling and helps to securely organise the transformation of the energy supply system."
The background of the activities of German and European transmission system operators is that fewer and fewer conventional fossil power plant capacity will be available in the future to balance fluctuations in power generation and consumption as well as to control grid congestion. The flexibility potentials of millions of decentralised small-scale assets can therefore make an important contribution to system stability.
For this purpose, the Equigy platform, which is composed of various European transmission system operators, offers flexibility providers free access to IT infrastructure to efficiently organise the data and information streams needed to provide ancillary services based on small-scale flexibilities. By cooperating in the project, transmission system operators 50Hertz and Tennet both seek to focus on the integration into congestion management of small-scale assets with a capacity below 100 kW, i.e. systems that are currently not subject to the legally required participation in Redispatch 2.0. In addition to the actual implementation of a pilot environment, regulatory questions are also addressed in the scope of this cooperation in order to create the necessary incentives for congestion management.
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Contact TenneT TSO GmbH: Ulrike Hörchens,
T +49 921 50740 4045, M +49 151 1713 1120,
ulrike.hoerchens@tennet.eu