Post News Electric Vehicles, Heat pumps, Home batteries, TSO June 9, 2021

Press Release: TenneT and GreenCom Networks want to unlock flexibility potential of households

Press Release:

TenneT and GreenCom Networks want to unlock flexibility potential of households to manage bottlenecks in the power grid.

  • A pilot project plans to answer questions such as how decentralised energy producers, consumers and storage systems can alleviate bottlenecks in the power grid
  • Virtual platform brings together and manages test customers
  • Integration of decentralized plants via Equigy Crowd Balancing Platform involves citizens directly in the energy transition

Bayreuth/Munich, 1 June 2021 – The transmission system operator TenneT and GreenCom Networks (“GreenCom”) are undertaking a field trial to test ways in which decentralised energy producers, consumers, and storages can be integrated to prevent bottlenecks in the transmission system (redispatch) and to balance out fluctuations in power generation and consumption (balancing power).

To this end, GreenCom will consolidate the control of smart devices (such as heat pumps and electric cars) of test customers on the company’s own platform and then offer these capacities on the Equigy Crowd Balancing Platform. From there, the transmission system operator TenneT can call them up if necessary. This flexibility potential from the smallest installations in households can help to reduce or prevent bottlenecks in the power grid. In this way, the GreenCom test customers can actively participate in the energy transition and benefit economically through the offered flexibility of their installations.

Optimisation of decentralised plants for redispatch

The special feature of the pilot project is that GreenCom will contribute a large variety of flexibility options. These include not only battery storages and charging stations for electric battery cars but also heat pumps, night-storage heaters, and photovoltaic systems of different manufacturers.

One objective of the pilot project is to better understand the processes from the transmission system operator down to flexibility providers. To this end, the decentralised installations will be integrated into the virtual power plant developed by GreenCom. The requirements of the test customers (e.g., a fully charged electric car in the morning) can therefore be matched to the requirements of the transmission system. If corresponding requirements exist, the operation of the decentralised installations can be optimised so that bottlenecks in the power grid can be reduced and limitations on the feed-in of renewable power can be minimised or prevented. The blockchain-based Equigy Crowd Balancing Platform developed by a consortium of European transmission system operators will be used as the interface with TenneT’s redispatch. The project is initially designed for twelve months and will then be evaluated intensively.

Background

The development of renewable energy increasingly leads to decentralised structures in the German secondary energy distribution system. The number of small producers, storage systems and consumers will therefore increase massively in the coming years. At the same time, the high feed-in of volatile renewable energy leads to transport bottlenecks in the transmission system. In the future, increasingly less conventionally generated power from large power plants will be available to control these grid congestions and balance out fluctuations in power generation and consumption.

Intelligently networked and integrated into the system service markets, the flexibility potential of millions of decentralised producers, storages and consumers can make a significant contribution to controlling the power grids.

 

Use of blockchain-based technology

The provision of system services for the operating reserve market and redispatch from millions of individual installations requires a new approach to automated control and integration in the transmission system operators’ processes and technical solutions by the device manufacturers. TenneT has therefore developed a cross-border blockchain-based data platform – the Equigy Crowd Balancing Platform- with a range of European transmission system operators. This platform will make it easier for millions of households in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to actively offer the flexibility of their installations, through electricity providers and manufacturers, to the system service markets for the stabilisation of the power grid. The Equigy platform enables the automated integration and control of these installations in the processes of the grid operators and market players.

 

Further information:

TenneT
Ulrike Hörchens
email: ulrike.hoerchens@tennet.eu
phone: +49 (0) 921 50740 4044

GreenCom Networks
Klaus Müller
email: klaus.mueller@greencom-networks.com
phone: +49 (0) 152 2648 2075

TenneT
TenneT is a leading European grid operator. We are committed to providing a secure and reliable supply of electricity 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, while helping to drive the energy transition in our pursuit of a brighter energy future – more sustainable, reliable and affordable than ever before. In our role as the first cross-border Transmission System Operator (TSO) we design, build, maintain and operate 23,900 km of high-voltage electricity grid in the Netherlands and large parts of Germany, and facilitate the European energy market through our 16 interconnectors to neighbouring countries. We are one of the largest investors in national and international onshore and offshore electricity grids, with a turnover of EUR 4.5 billion and a total asset value of EUR 27 billion. Every day our 5,700 employees take ownership, show courage and make and maintain connections to ensure that the supply and demand of electricity is balanced for over 42 million people. Lighting the way ahead together

GreenCom Networks
GreenCom Networks is a leading Energy IoT company with locations in Munich, Germany, and Sophia-Antipolis, France. GreenCom has been working on the energy system of the future since 2011. On its platform, GreenCom integrates decentralised energy devices such as photovoltaic systems, battery storage devices, electric cars and heat pumps and offers White Label services for energy suppliers or manufacturers of energy-relevant devices. Its end-customers benefit from services such as energy communities, flat rates, optimisation, and visualisation of energy flows in households.

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