Flexibility solutions could allow German industry to relieve power grid

German companies could make a significant contribution to stabilising the electricity grid by flexibly adapting their demand to available supply, according to a new study conducted by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s (BMBF) SynErgie project. SynErgie is one of the ministry’s Copernicus Projects, an energy transition research initiative that aims to make it possible for Germany to become climate-neutral by 2045. Specifically, SynErgie studies has calculated the extent to which industry can help to offset fluctuations caused by the intermittent supply of wind and solar-generated electricity and relieve the power grid. In addition, an international comparison shows that flexibility solutions from Germany could become an international export hit.

SynErgie found that if more electricity is available in the grid than is actually needed, German industry could increase its demand by 3.6 gigawatts (GW) for one minute. This corresponds to the output of around 1,030 onshore wind turbines. If less electricity is available in the grid than is currently needed, industry could reduce its demand by around 5 GW for one minute (the output of 1,430 onshore turbines), or by around 3.3 GW (output of 940 onshore wind turbines) for 15 minutes. Alexander Sauer from the University of Stuttgart and SynErgie spokesman said: "When we use energy-flexible technologies, everyone benefits in the end: the network operators, the electricity consumers and the companies that offer their flexibility on the market."