The transition of our energy system is in full swing. The share of total German energy consumption associated to renewable energies was almost 40% in 2018 – and the trend continues to rise. A byproduct of this is an increasing fluctuation of the feed-in power, which must be continually balanced. Because the availability of traditional balancing mechanisms, which use power plants capable of providing base load power, is on the decline, the costs of such system services have been steadily rising for years.
Furthermore, alternative drive concepts are playing an increasingly important role in the mobility sector to achieve defined climate and emission targets. The smart integration of the energy and mobility sectors by vehicle-to-grid, combined with innovative ideas and new technologies, provides opportunities to harness the resulting synergies.
To develop optimised charging strategies, modelling of the mobility demand and the expected demand for frequency containment and restauration reserves is necessary. Furthermore, realisable prices on the respective energy markets as well as the characteristics of the corresponding fleet have to be taken into account. Whether corporate or industrial vehicle fleets, private cars or car sharing - an individual analysis of the underlying data as well as the available infrastructure is necessary to quantify the achievable synergies.
According to our research, the attractiveness of vehicle-to-grid projects depends largely on the technical and regulatory frameworks. In particular, the development of the commercial viability of bidirectional charging infrastructure and the planned revision of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (German: EEG) play an important role. Nevertheless, a significant benefit can already be generated in today's regulatory environment with the utilisation of unidirectional charging.
We support our customers in the development and implementation of smart charging strategies, the adaptive management of the mobility demand and in the cross-industrial integration of new business processes, for instance the use of electric fleets as decentralised energy storage systems.
With our practical experience and technological expertise stemming from numerous digitisation projects in the energy and mobility sectors, we will be happy to support you in navigating the upcoming challenges and help you gain a competitive advantage.