DEBATE
Batteries and heat pumps can slow down the costs that consumers and companies have to pay to expand the electricity networks, writes Dan-Eric Archer, Checkwatt.
This is a discussion article. The opinions expressed are the writer’s own.
On Wednesday, December 4, hundreds of thousands of Gothenburg citizens wake up to one of the first cold snaps of winter. The thermometer shows four degrees below zero and many turn up the heat in their homes. The need for electricity is increasing rapidly in the local power grids.
The government wants Sweden to plan for a roughly doubling of electricity use by 2045. The increase is estimated to require massive investments in new lines in order for the electricity to reach consumers. According to reports that Energy research and Sweco developed, the costs can amount to a breathtaking SEK 1,000 billion. The strengthening of the regional and local networks alone is estimated by Sweco to cost 600 billion – of which 270 are needed in the next five years.
The bill for upgrading the electricity grids has already started to fall on electricity consumers in the form of increased electricity grid fees. On average, electricity grid charges in Sweden have been raised by 9.5 percent in the past year, according to the Nils Holgersson report released in November. In ten years, fees have been raised by roughly 45 percent.
Many small resources can together make a big difference by being connected to a virtual power plant. Even heat pumps or other energy resources can contribute to balance by being started or turned off when needed.
To meet the increased need for electricity, on the same cold Wednesday morning, hundreds of batteries are activated at private individuals and companies in Gothenburg and Mölndal. The batteries begin to discharge and shoot to power locally until ten o’clock when the highest peak is over.
The power grids need to be dimensioned to meet the power demand when it is at its greatest. There is therefore great potential for reducing the need for investment by cutting the highest power peaks. An effective way to cut peaks is for local electricity grid companies to do as in Gothenburg and Mölndal before those cold hours in early December, namely to buy up flexibility on a local market.
Typically, local power additions are rarely needed for more than 100 winter hours per year in each grid area. It will be significantly cheaper to let batteries add power during those peak hours compared to building a larger electricity grid than we need for the rest of the year’s 8,665 hours.
The around 500 battery owners who contribute to cutting the power peak during the cold morning receive a share of the sum that the local electricity grid companies pay for the power supplement. Local flexibility is one of many ways for battery owners to generate additional revenue.
Many small resources can together make a big difference by being connected to a virtual power plant. Even heat pumps or other energy resources can contribute to balance by being started or turned off as needed. This happens automatically and for such short moments that it does not affect the function.
Interest in connecting flexible energy resources is currently increasing rapidly. Today, over 200 MW of flexibility is available in CheckWatt’s virtual power plant in Sweden alone. Together with the capacity of other actors who also connect many energy resources, own large individual battery stocks or can adjust their electricity use at different times, there is a huge potential to increase the efficiency of the local electricity grids.
Flexibility can reduce the need for investment in local and regional power grids by as much as 27-80 percent, shows and study made at EU level. Based on the SEK 600 billion that Sweco calculates the Swedish investment need for, the savings could be in the amount of SEK 180–480 billion until 2045.
In order to speed up the local flexibility trade, Sweden’s network owners can follow the example of Gothenburg and Mölndal. We also see that there are advantages to cooperation between the network companies, to standardize the format of flex markets and implement them to a greater extent.
Markets for local flexibility also make it possible for the electricity grid companies to connect new operations that can contribute to the climate transition earlier than if they have to wait for new lines. When flexibility is traded on local markets, not only is more capacity made available cheaper than building electricity grids, but also significantly faster. Thus, flexibility will also be able to bring new customers to the electricity network companies, which should make the issue of developing a functioning trade a very high priority.
Dan-Eric Archervd Checkwatt
Source: www.nyteknik.se
