Germany tests market integration of EV flexibility without smart meter gateways

German companies TransnetBW, Audi and Intellegent Energy System Services (IE2S) are teaming up to test the market integration of decentralised EV flexibility without smart meter gateways or dynamic electricity tariffs.

The transmission system operator, OEM and business consultancy announced the partnership in a release, aiming to develop a system where it is possible to use EV flexibility without an intelligent measuring system.

Commenting on the pilot project was Dr Rainer Pflaum, member of the management board of TransnetBW: “With our new pilot project with Audi, we are testing how private electric vehicle owners can benefit from flexible electricity prices in the future if they charge their vehicle at home but do not have a smart meter gateway or a dynamic electricity tariff.

“This helps us as transmission system operators to use decentralised flexibility efficiently for system stability. And what is special for the participants in this pilot project is that the technical requirements are met without additional investment in the technical infrastructure.”

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EV flexibility without intelligent measuring

For the project, a pool of Audi electric vehicles will be linked to TransnetBW’s trading processes, integrating their flexibility into the electricity market.

The underlying system decides on the basis of the usage profiles of its customers what flexibility is available without restricting their comfort.

TransnetBW markets the flexibility on the continuous intraday market and balances the changes in the electricity consumption of the market locations compared to the standard load profile due to the changed charging behaviour in the differential balance circles of the respective network operators.

Since the start of the project, the partners have been successfully testing the interaction of the systems and processes in test operation. This is simulated with virtual electric vehicles, the digital twins, under real market conditions.

Initial preliminary results indicate a high flexibility and savings potential for customers. From September this year, the pilot test will be expanded to include real vehicles and the participants’ available flexibility will be marketed on the stock exchange and balancing and billing with the network operators will be implemented.

The end-to-end test is intended to provide information on the feasibility, the potential of load shifting through electric vehicles and the economic benefits.

According to the partners in a release, the approach thus enables the combination of classic electricity contracts with a fixed price and the marketing of flexibility, since the marketing, balancing and invoicing of flexibility takes place independently of the electricity purchase contract.

They add that, due to its simplicity, this approach could be used in the foreseeable future to develop load-side flexibility. In addition to marketing on the intraday market, other use cases are conceivable in the future, such as the provision of control reserves.

Said Dr Hagen Seifert, head of sustainable product concepts at Audi: “The participants in the pilot group benefit from a charging offer that is very easy to understand and implement, as they do not have to meet any further requirements other than installing an app. With the pilot project, we want to explore what offers could look like that lead to the increased use of renewable energies.”

Currently, smart EV charging at home for flexibility is not possible without an intelligent measuring system and an intelligent or dynamic electricity contract.

In this case, postponing a charging process during times of low electricity prices cannot be measured, accounted for or billed. This means that private EV owners have neither the opportunity nor the incentive to benefit from low electricity prices.

Although smart meter rollout is regulated by law in Germany – from 2025 it will apply to consumers with an annual gross electricity consumption of 6,000kWh or more and controllable consumption devices such as EVs, heat pumps and battery storage – the country continues to experience low prevalence of smart meter gateways and low acceptance of dynamic electricity tariffs.

Due to this, it is not yet clear whether the great flexibility potential of these decentralised consumers can be sufficiently exploited. This is where the pilot project comes in, hoping to enable the use of flexibility of electricity demand without an intelligent measuring system.