The Green Deal is the European Union’s (EU) strategic plan to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The plan was presented by the European Commission in December 2019 and includes a wide range of measures aimed at combating climate change, protecting the environment and promoting sustainable economic growth.
Energy and the Green Deal
The production and use of energy account for more than 75% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonizing the EU’s energy system is, therefore, critical to reaching the 2030 climate objectives and the EU’s long-term strategy of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
The European Green Deal focuses on 3 key principles for the clean energy transition, which will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the quality of life of EU’s citizens:
- Ensuring a secure and affordable EU energy supply
- Developing a fully integrated, interconnected and digitalised EU energy market
- Prioritizing energy efficiency, improving the energy performance of our buildings, and developing a power sector based largely on renewable sources.
The Commission’s main objectives to achieve this are:
- Build interconnected energy systems and better-integrated grids to support renewable energy sources
- Promote innovative technologies and modern infrastructure
- Boost energy efficiency and eco-design of products
- Decarbonize the gas sector and promote smart integration across sectors
- Empower consumers and help EU countries tackle energy poverty
- Promote EU energy standards and technologies at the global level
- Develop the full potential of Europe’s offshore wind energy.
From the utilities’ perspectives, meeting these objectives requires a great effort and use of the right tools. Awesense helps utilities with many of these challenges, as our library of over 50 use cases demonstrates. Below are Awesense use cases that apply to the previously listed Commission goals, all of which are available in greater detail in the library.
- Build interconnected energy systems and better-integrated grids to support renewable energy sources. Use cases that can be utilized include Registered PV Generation Analysis, Onsite Generation & Ghost Load Analysis, Reversed Power Flow & PV Capacity Analysis, EV & Appliance Disaggregation, and others.
- Promote innovative technologies and modern infrastructure. Use cases to implement are Asset Management for Substations, Cables and Lines, Transformer Loading Analysis, IoT Health Index & Overview, and others.
- Boost energy efficiency and eco-design of products. Primary use cases include MV Grid Optimization Analysis, Transformer Capacity Analysis for EV Charging, Master Circuit Breaker Value vs. Measured Values Analysis, Load Forecasting, Energy Balancing for Revenue Protection, Grid Alerts & Warnings, among others.
- Empower consumers and help EU countries to tackle energy poverty. Use cases here are Time Of Use Rate Analysis, Detection of Meter Incorrect Wiring Connection, EV Charging & Use of Reserved Capacity Analysis, and others.
The Green Deal and Unintended Consequences in Germany
If the energy transition does not happen fast enough (for example, Germany is lagging behind the chosen targets according to the report of the Bundesrechnungshof, the German Federal Audit Office, see article) and if the utilities do not focus on the above-mentioned Commission objectives, both utilities and their customers will experience higher costs and restricted decision making, as some cases in Germany already indicate.
One case in Germany is the insufficient grid capacity that has halted the development of the small city of Oranienburg near Berlin. In Oranienburg it is not possible to connect a new house, increase the existing reserved capacity, or even connect a new heat pump or charger for an electric vehicle. These strict restrictions are due to the continued shutdown of power plants, which are happening before renewable energy interconnection and grid capacity upgrades have gone online. The case of Oranienburg may be a prediction of what is yet to come for many municipalities, and the risk is high with customers seeking upgrades such as heat pumps for their homes and chargers to serve the forecasted growth in EVs.
Synchronizing to Make Renewables Work
The rate of change to the grid is accelerating quickly. What was previously a slow-moving grid system has become a fast-moving one. Grid planning is an increasingly complex matter, and planning errors can occur more easily than in the past, particularly if data from the grid is not implemented with proper use. Utilities and regulators must work closely together to make key decisions about the millions of decentralized systems such as solar, wind, and others that are integrating with the grid. Lack of planning has already made a negative impact on the supply of transformers, for example, which are experiencing wait times of several years to meet the soaring demand from renewable interconnection.
Investments in grid innovation will be very difficult to implement without sophisticated, data-driven methods.
Adding to these challenges are the recent concerns of the amount of green kilowatt hours that will overload the infrastructure. In order to keep costs from escalating out of control, grid expansion and the expansion of renewables need to be much more synchronized, in that new grid infrastructure and innovation must be in place before interconnecting more renewables. Investments in grid innovation will be very difficult to implement without sophisticated, data-driven methods. By making use of disparate, normally complex grid data, the Awesense platform plays a critical role in this step of the utility planning process (see use cases such as Transformer Capacity Analysis for EV Charging, Transformer Loading Analysis, MV Grid Optimization Analysis, to see how).
Lastly, until now, the grid has been dimensioned to carry the sum of the maximum generation of all sources. However, because PV and wind generation fluctuate, they do not usually deliver full power at the same time, meaning that the full capacity of the grid is rarely used. Therefore, it must be possible to ‘top-up’ the capacity limit to allow even more wind and solar power plants to be connected quickly. With the modeling of grid data at granular levels, grid planners are well-equipped to make this a reality.
The stakes for utilities have never been higher. Planning errors can be very costly for utilities, and furthermore, they are subject to a legal obligation to connect new consumers. If they fail to meet this obligation, they may face civil claims for damages. Grid operators can now delay charging electric vehicles or remotely turn down heat pumps if grid stability is at risk. In return, utilities may no longer be able to refuse new customer connections.
Conclusion
The EU’s Green Deal and Awesense have a shared goal: to reduce and eradicate carbon emission from the electric grid. It is essential to get this complex energy transformation right; otherwise, it could have far-reaching negative consequences, and we’re already starting to see a negative consequence in Germany. Awesense has been helping energy companies achieve their grid transformation and carbon reduction objectives, and so is poised to help realize several of the critical goals set by the Green Deal.
