Obstacles to demand response: Why industrial companies do not adapt their power consumption to volatile power generation

in Energy Policy (2022), 165

Various flexibility options in power systems, such as storage, grid expansion, and demand flexibility, gain increasing importance to balance the intermittent power supply of renewables. On the demand side ... [more ▼]

Various flexibility options in power systems, such as storage, grid expansion, and demand flexibility, gain increasing importance to balance the intermittent power supply of renewables. On the demand side, especially the industrial sector represents promising potential for Demand Response, i.e., the alignment of its power demand with the current power supply of renewables. However, there exist various obstacles that currently prevent companies from investing in new or (fully) exploiting existing flexibility potentials. In this paper, we investigate how economic, regulatory, technological, organizational, behavioral, informational, and competence obstacles pose barriers for companies to adjust their power consumption flexibly. For this purpose, we combine both a structured literature analysis and a case study. For the case study, we conduct 16 interviews with energy experts from companies from different industries. Our findings reveal that due to technical risk of disrupting the production process, lacking revenues, and too low cost savings, companies do not flexibilize their power consumption. Moreover, in particular, contradictory legislative incentives and missing IT standardization and interoperability represent key obstacles. Therefore, our results constitute a basis for targeted policy making in order to foster the exploitation of (existing) flexibility potential of industrial companies on the demand side. [less ▲]

Energieflexibilitätsdatenmodell der Energiesynchronisationsplattform: Teil der Reihe Diskussionspapiere V4 Konzept der Energiesynchronisationsplattform

Report (2021)

The energy flexibility data model developed within the framework of SynErgie is used for the generic and standardised description and modelling of energy flexibility. The data model enables (partially ... [more ▼]

The energy flexibility data model developed within the framework of SynErgie is used for the generic and standardised description and modelling of energy flexibility. The data model enables (partially) automated information technology processing of a wide variety of flexibility. The aim is to develop a comprehensive data model to map flexibility in a flexibility space and concrete flexibility measures. The aim is not to create a completely realistic representation of a flexibility. The focus is on mapping technically and energetically relevant information in a granularity that enables the communication of flexibility between industrial companies and energy markets. [less ▲]

How did the German and other European electricity systems react to the COVID-19 pandemic?

in Applied Energy (2021), 285

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic led to decreases in electricity demand and a rising share of Renewable Energy Sources in various countries. In Germany, the average proportion of net electricity ... [more ▼]

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic led to decreases in electricity demand and a rising share of Renewable Energy Sources in various countries. In Germany, the average proportion of net electricity generation via Renewable Energy Sources rose above 55% in the first half of 2020, as compared to 47% for the same period in 2019. Given these altered circumstances, in this paper we analyze how the German and other European electricity systems behaved during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use data visualization and descriptive statistics to evaluate common figures for electricity systems and markets, comparing developments during the COVID-19 pandemic with those of previous years. Our evaluation reveals noticeable changes in electricity consumption, generation, prices, and imports/exports. However, concerning grid stability and ancillary services, we do not observe any irregularities. Discussing the role of various flexibility options during the COVID-19 pandemic, a relatively higher grid capacity resulting from a decreased electricity consumption, in particular, may have contributed to grid stability. [less ▲]

Industrielle Energieflexibilität im Energiesystem

in Energieflexibilität in der deutschen Industrie : Ergebnisse aus dem Kopernikus-Projekt - Synchronisierte und energieadaptive Produktionstechnik zur flexiblen Ausrichtung von Industrieprozessen auf eine fluktuierende Energieversorgung (SynErgie) (2019)

Energy from renewable resources is not always readily available. Depending on the season and the weather, the power made available by solar parks or wind turbines varies, for example. Due to the ... [more ▼]

Energy from renewable resources is not always readily available. Depending on the season and the weather, the power made available by solar parks or wind turbines varies, for example. Due to the continuous expansion of renewable energies, the volatility in the energy system will become more and more pronounced in the future. Preparing and adapting the industry to the changing supply structures is a major challenge for the next few decades. In the future, companies must be able to design their processes and operational organization in such a way that energy consumption can at least partially adapt flexibly to the volatile energy supply. In addition to developing technologies, Concepts and measures to make industrial processes more energetic, a second focus of future work is the development of a consistent IT infrastructure with which companies and energy providers can provide and exchange information from the production machine to the energy markets in the future. This leads to a paradigm shift in the operation of industrial processes - away from continuous and purely demand-driven energy consumption towards the adaptable, energy-flexible operation of industrial plants. This reference work presents the most important results of the research in the context of the Kopernikus project Synergy and clarifies trend-setting findings for further developments in the still young field of industrial energy flexibility. [less ▲]

Initial conditions for the marketing of demand flexibility: status quo analysis and meta study. 2 version

Report (2019)

The present work is part of the research project "Synchronized and energy-adaptive production technology for the flexible alignment of industrial processes to a fluctuating energy supply (SynErgie ... [more ▼]

The present work is part of the research project "Synchronized and energy-adaptive production technology for the flexible alignment of industrial processes to a fluctuating energy supply (SynErgie)" funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. As one of the "Kopernikus projects for the energy transition", the SynErgie research project aims to enable energy-intensive industries in Germany to adapt their electricity demand to the increasingly fluctuating electricity supply. In the past, electricity systems were usually designed so that the generation side of the market was adapted to the temporal behavior of consumption. However, due to the increased expansion of volatile renewable energies, power generation is subject to uncontrollable, weather-dependent fluctuations, which is why making the overall system more flexible is becoming increasingly important. Because the producer side can only offer the required flexibility in the form of a reduction in feed-in, there is a so-called flexibility gap. As became clear on December 14, 2018 and January 10, 2019, this flexibility gap is already pushing the power system to its limits of stability. Only through the use of many compensation mechanisms or With options for flexibility, the security of supply could just be maintained on these days. The industrial processes considered in SynErgie represent a subset of potential flexibility options and can contribute to load adjustment to fluctuating generation as well as to the provision of system services and relief of the grids. In a liberalized, competitive electricity market, the market and regulatory framework conditions are of great relevance with regard to the development of the potential for flexibility in demand. This study therefore first describes the basics of the electricity market design and the constituent legal framework. Current discussions about the basic price system (unit price system vs. zonal system vs. nodal system) are not dealt with. The processing of these discussions as well as the specific analysis of the effects of the price system on demand flexibility is the content of the work packages of the Cluster IV “Market and Electricity System” pending in SynErgie II. The present study therefore rather works on potential obstacles to the participation of flexible demand processes and always refers to the application to industrial processes. The analysis forms the basis for future work in Cluster IV and provides cross-cluster information about the status quo of market structures and regulatory framework conditions. In addition to the systematic processing of the market framework, the scientific literature and already published studies on the subject of demand flexibility (demand side management and demand response) are analyzed and summarized in a meta study. The analysis forms the basis for future work in Cluster IV and provides cross-cluster information about the status quo of market structures and regulatory framework conditions. In addition to the systematic processing of the market framework, the scientific literature and already published studies on the subject of demand flexibility (demand side management and demand response) are analyzed and summarized in a meta study. The analysis forms the basis for future work in Cluster IV and provides cross-cluster information about the status quo of market structures and regulatory framework conditions. In addition to the systematic processing of the market framework, the scientific literature and already published studies on the subject of demand flexibility (demand side management and demand response) are analyzed and summarized in a meta study. [less ▲]

A Generic Data Model for Describing Flexibility in Power Markets

in Energies (2019), 12(10),

In this article, we present a new descriptive model for industrial flexibility with respect to power consumption. The advancing digitization in the energy sector opens up new possibilities for utilizing ... [more ▼]

In this article, we present a new descriptive model for industrial flexibility with respect to power consumption. The advancing digitization in the energy sector opens up new possibilities for utilizing and automatizing the marketing of flexibility potentials and therefore facilitates a more advanced energy management. This requires a standardized description and modeling of power-related flexibility. The data model in this work has been developed in close collaboration with several partners from different industries in the context of a major German research project. A suitable set of key figures allows for also describing complex production processes that exhibit interdependencies and storage-like properties. The data model can be applied to other areas as well, e.g., power plants, plug-in electric vehicles, or power-related flexibility of households. [less ▲]

Generic Data Model for Describing Real-Time Data-Supported Power Flexibility

in SmartER Europe (2018)

In the course of the German Energiewende, the share of controllable power generation is decreasing, while renewable, volatile generation resources (wind turbines and pho-tovoltaics), are being expanded ... [more ▼]

In the course of the German Energiewende, the share of controllable power generation is decreasing, while renewable, volatile generation resources (wind turbines and pho-tovoltaics), are being expanded. Therefore, the need for flexibility on the consumer side to compensate for this volatile generation is growing, because the balance of power production and power consumption needs to be guaranteed [1]. The German industrial sector consumes the largest share by 43.7 % of electricity [2] and also holds enormous potential for load flexibility in Germany [3]. However, many potentials cannot be ex-ploited because the necessary information technology connections are missing. The ge-neric data structure presented in this paper offers an approach to describe power flexi-bility potentials in a standardized way for a prevailing situation. This state-dependent flexibility potential can thus be made available to a higher-level instance for optimizing the operation strategy. As digitization progresses, the degree of automation increases, and so does the flexibility potential of the system. To this end, the basic characteristics of flexibility are first of all worked out and the corresponding degrees of freedom are explained in more detail. The existing approaches for describing flexibility of conven-tional power plants, such as the transmission code [4], will also be discussed. There are two classes of power flexibility - time-restricted and time-independent flexibility. Sep-arate sets of flexibility indicators are created for both classes, which are then transferred to a data structure. Finally, an information architecture to process the data model is presented. [less ▲]