A lot of headway has already been made with the expansion and transformation of power grids, the lifelines of the renewable energy system. But some great challenges remain, as the Future Power Grids Conference on January 29 and 30 in Berlin showed. The focus is shifting towards cost efficiency, increased flexibility, more energy storage and the digitalization of distribution systems.
The German power grid remains one of the most reliable grids in the world – despite renewable power generation now dominating, stressed Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur, who attended the renowned specialist conference for the first time. Thanks to the measures taken to accelerate the expansion of transmission systems, marked progress is being made. Since 2021, the length of installed power lines has doubled, the length of power lines under construction has quadrupled, and the length of approved new power lines has even increased thirteen-fold. According to Volker Oschmann, Ministerial Director for Energy at the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, congestion management (redispatch) in the power grid was able to save more than one billion euros last year. Next to grid expansion, this is primarily due to the optimization of existing grids.
In future, cost efficiency needs to become more of a priority along with supply security and climate neutrality when it comes to grid expansion and the expansion and systems integration of renewable energies, Müller and Oschmann agreed. They mentioned the flexibilization of generation and consumption, energy storage and distribution system innovations as effective levers. The retrofitting and expansion of distribution systems should be driven by long-term planning, rewarding innovative operational management methods and more digitalization, among other things. In the future, the Bundesnetzagentur intends to publish a monitoring report on the progress of digitalization in the distribution system once every quarter. This is intended to improve transparency and fuel competition among operators.
According to Müller, the key to the flexible control of consumers by distribution system operators lies in § 14a of the Energy Industry Act, which allows the flexible control of EV charging stations, heat pumps and electricity storage systems, amongst others. This will require smart meters, though, and they are only just starting to be rolled out. A new legislative package is intended to boost the rollout of smart meters and create incentives. Müller also believes that the future integration of millions of electric vehicles through bidirectional charging has great potential for easing the pressure on the grid and making it more flexible.
The conference also demonstrated that large-scale battery storage systems in particular are on the rise. Müller stressed that the deployment of large-scale systems must be grid-serving. Grid costs must not be socialized when systems are built, no matter where.
Distribution system operators and service providers reported on the realities and possibilities of digitalizing the distribution systems. Netze BW, for example, is working on fully automated, “self-repairing” grids in order to minimize downtimes due to failures. Digital twins are the basis for the automated integration of grid planning and operating processes, and real-time monitoring helps to make grid operation more efficient.
The specialist conference was held under the patronage of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action for the 13th time, with around 200 representatives from the energy and manufacturing industry, research and politics attending.