Germany’s Federal Network Agency has started a consultation to determine criteria that switchable loads must meet in order to be able to reduce curtailment of renewables generation.
“We want to enable the use of renewable electricity that would otherwise not have been generated due to grid bottlenecks.
“The stipulation is intended to reduce the amount of renewable electricity that has to be curtailed due to grid bottlenecks,” said Klaus Muller, President of the Federal Network Agency.
The Federal Network Agency specifies criteria for when additional electricity consumption can be assumed that can be used by grid operators to allow renewable energy plants to continue producing electricity despite existing grid bottlenecks.
The legally regulated concept “Use instead of curtailment 2.0” is intended to create an incentive to activate additional electricity consumption in so-called relief regions.
This is intended to limit the reduction in renewable generation that is currently necessary due to the lack of grid expansion and to make renewable electricity usable.
This can work if there is an additional demand for electricity, which has a congestion-relieving effect.
The definition of the Federal Network Agency determines the criteria that characterise consumption as additional.
In addition to general conditions, three segments are defined for which, under specific conditions, additional electricity consumption can be assumed with sufficient certainty.
These are the substitution of fossil heat generation by electrical heat generation, the use of grid-connected storage and new electrolysers and large-scale heat pumps.
As part of the last amendment to the Energy Industry Act (EnWG), a new regulation was introduced to reduce the curtailment of renewable energy plants due to electricity-related grid bottlenecks.
Section 13k of the EnWG, which was newly introduced for this purpose, provides that the four transmission system operators allocate electricity volumes to eligible subscribers at a discounted price.
Participants receive discounted electricity costs for their contribution to congestion relief, which does not increase the congestion management costs for grid users overall.