The rapidly growing feed-in of electrical energy from renewable sources into the electricity grid poses major challenges for energy supply throughout Germany. ENSO and DREWAG are also affected by this development and are looking for economic solutions to counter the threat of bottlenecks. In addition to the currently much-discussed but still too expensive storage technologies, the flexible adaptation of the load side - electricity consumption - to fluctuating generation represents a promising alternative to conventional grid expansion.
This is where a new project by Saxon universities and energy companies comes in: SERVING, synonymous with the "Service Platform Distribution Grid for Integral Load Management". ENSO NETZ, ENSO AG and DREWAG NETZ as well as the research partners Dresden University of Technology and Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences signed the corresponding cooperation agreement on 23.09.2015. Their planned four-year collaboration on this aspect of the energy transition will be funded with almost EUR 1.5 million for the research partners.
The Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences is involved in the SERVING project with €600,000. The university's research partner is Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Lässig and his research team.
The investigations focus on the use of flexible electricity consumers such as storage heaters, heat pumps, water technology systems and production facilities with thermal processes.
with thermal processes. Storage heaters, for example, are currently charged at fixed times - regardless of the situation in the electricity grid and the current electricity price on the market. The aim of the joint SERVING research project is to charge these flexible consumers when there is a high supply of electrical energy and therefore at favorable prices, without causing overloads in the electricity grid.
If everything goes according to plan, several hundred pilot systems in eastern Saxony will be equipped with the necessary measurement, control and communication technology between 2016 and 2019. Without sacrificing convenience for the customer, a central system will then determine the time windows in which the systems can be charged and control them remotely. In addition to the relief effect on the grid, the project is also investigating whether the flexibilization of electricity consumption will result in significant advantages in electricity procurement and the marketing of controllable loads - i.e. controllable electricity consumption - which can ultimately be passed on to customers in the form of innovative tariffs .
The project is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany. The funding body is the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy based on a resolution of the German Bundestag.
Photo: Lutz Weidler
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