Zonneplan and Liander test automatic control of home batteries against congestion

Energy company Zonneplan and grid operator Liander are jointly starting a pilot against grid congestion in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

By automated and software-based control of solar panels, charging stations and home batteries, they are going to reduce local congestion on the electricity grid.

The pilot starts this month and will run until November of this year.

Commenting in a release was Jochem van Vuren, business development lead at Zonneplan: “Solar panels are essential for the energy transition, but they also cause peaks on the electricity grid.

“Our Powerplay platform offers the possibility to automatically store power in home batteries in case of surpluses and to temporarily switch off solar panels where necessary. The stored power from the batteries can be returned at quiet moments. All this happens without the user having to do anything. The platform is therefore also extremely suitable for preventing overloading of the electricity grid.”

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Pilot in Arnhem

According to Liander in a release, in the coming decades, the electricity grid will have to be expanded considerably to cope with an increasing number of solar panels, electric cars and heat pumps.

Although work is being done to reinforce the electricity grid, this cannot be done everywhere at the same time. That is why, they state, smarter use of the grid and flexibility will be key.

Said Gilbert de Graaf, director of market services at Liander: “With this pilot, we are investigating how we can relieve the electricity grid in a user-friendly and affordable way.”

According to de Graaf, the choice for Zonneplan as a partner is logical because they already control many devices automatically for their customers:

“For us it is important that Zonneplan customers already make their devices available for flexible control, so that these devices can easily be used to solve local grid congestion. These customers therefore understand the importance of automated control.”

In the Arnhem Burgemeesterswijk and Hoogkamp, where the pilot is taking place, a relatively large number of residents have a home battery or solar panels that can be controlled by Zonneplan.

Participating households already receive compensation from Zonneplan for the flexible use of their devices. The agreements on this will remain in place during the pilot. Liander will compensate any lost income of participating households if the management to prevent grid congestion turns out to be financially disadvantageous.

Added De Graaf: “People often talk about an ‘overcrowded electricity grid’, but in practice the grid in the residential area is only full at a few peak moments.

“If we can cleverly spare those moments, we can also quickly take steps in the energy transition with the current electricity grid. The use of such smart solutions also means that in some places the electricity grid does not have to be expanded as quickly.”

After completion of the pilot, Zonneplan and Liander will evaluate the results and determine the next steps for rollout in other districts and regions.