Reduced grid fees due to controllable consumption devices

If a site is to be electrified, a charging management system is often used to ensure that the available grid connection capacity is not exceeded. A charging management system intelligently controls the charging processes of electric vehicles and adapts them to the capacity limits of the power grid.

A charging management system can also help to optimize the utilization of the distribution network. To this end, the grid operator is granted time-limited access to the available charging power of the electric vehicles.

Charging infrastructure as a controllable consumption device in accordance with § 14a EnWG

The energy transition is advancing and with it the use of renewable energy sources as well as the growing charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. The increasing number of charging parks in company or residential parking lots, where electric vehicles are regularly charged at the same time, poses major challenges for the distribution grid. Grid operators are faced with uncontrollable loads at individual grid points, so new and innovative uses of the grid are needed to ensure that power generation and power consumption are in harmony.

Under the provisions of § 14a of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG), connection users in the low-voltage sector can make their charging infrastructure available to the network operator as a controllable consumption facility, so that the network operator may temporarily limit the output of the charging facilities in the event of a particularly high load in the electricity network. In return, the grid operator charges permanently reduced grid fees for enabling grid-serving control.

The prerequisite for a controllable consumption device is that it must have a separate meter with its own § 14a electricity tariff.

Reduced grid fees with a charging and energy management system

The charging and energy management system IO-ELON enables, via the add-on feature "Reduced grid charges", that the charging devices as controllable consumption devices are controlled by the grid operator in a grid-serving manner. The control signals of the network operator are processed by IO-ELON via the OpenADR communication standard.

OpenADR (Open Automated Demand Response) is an emerging smart grid standard and an open and compatible cloud-to-cloud communication protocol. Utilities and grid operators can transmit control signals to smart devices such as charging management systems via an Internet connection. By demand response, loads can be adjusted in response to current electricity demand.

Demand response is essential for stabilizing utility grids.

If the grid operator intervenes on the charging facilities as controllable consumption devices, IO-ELON reads the control signal via OpenADR and reduces the power of the charging infrastructure. After a control intervention, IO-ELON automatically ensures that the power is increased again and any interrupted charging processes are restarted.

In this way, an intelligent charging and energy management system such as IO-ELON ensures that the charging stations are operational at all times, so that charging processes are automatically resumed after the grid operator intervenes.

In any case, the implementation of grid-serving control should be discussed individually with the responsible grid operator. 

Conclusion

Grid-serving charging makes the power supply smarter. By allowing the grid operator to access their own charging infrastructure, end users benefit from lower electricity costs. With intelligent charging and energy management such as IO-ELON, electric vehicle drivers do not suffer any disadvantages when charging. The system ensures that the vehicles are reliably charged and available for electric driving.