Project Flexnet Haßfurt: Accelerating the energy transition with dynamic grid fees

In the joint research project FlexNet Haßfurt, a team from the University of Passau led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hermann de Meer is investigating how dynamic grid fees can promote the efficient use of flexibility potentials in a power grid – thereby reducing the need for costly grid expansion. OTH Regensburg coordinates the joint project.

When bottlenecks occur in the power grid, grid operators intervene at short notice, for example by throttling wind turbines or ramping up gas-fired power plants. This costs money. In 2024 alone, such emergency measures cost Euro 2.8 billion – costs that are ultimately borne by all consumers via their electricity bills. The FlexNet Haßfurt project takes an alternative approach: Dynamic grid fees are intended to motivate consumers and prosumers to use electricity when the grid is less strained.

Grid fees with an intelligent approach

“Instead of relying on direct intervention, we use dynamic grid fees to create incentives for intelligent load distribution,” explains Professor Hermann de Meer, holder of the Chair of Computer Networks and Computer Communication. “This can increase security of supply without having to expand the grid., The Passau team led by the computer scientist is involved in the FlexNet Haßfurt joint project, which is coordinated by Professor Oliver Brückl from OTH Regensburg. As part of the project consortium, it is developing models to calculate this flexibility potential and integrate it into network planning.

The researchers are looking at guaranteed and uncertain flexibility potentials. Guaranteed potentials are contractually assured, for example when an industrial company reduces its electricity consumption because it is remunerated for doing so. Uncertain flexibility potentials are based on voluntary behaviour, such as when consumers and prosumers shift their electricity consumption because dynamic grid fees signal cheaper times. The Passau team is examining how to optimally use both forms in power grids.

The models developed for this purpose also account for the trade-off between dynamic grid fees and dynamic electricity prices. This is because the market and the grid sometimes work against each other. Cheap electricity prices can lead to grid overloads when many people charge their vehicles at the same time. The researchers have set themselves the goal of developing models that intelligently link grid fees and electricity prices so that consumers and prosumers have an incentive to act in accordance with both the market and grid stability.

From theory to practice

The research aims to make dynamic grid fees a practical instrument for controlling sector-coupled energy assets. The project goes through several stages: from theoretical modelling to field testing within the network area of the municipal utility company Stadtwerk Haßfurt “In doing so, FlexNet Haßfurt contributes to the ongoing automation and digital integration of power grids”, says Professor de Meer.

FlexNet Haßfurt is receiving 2.2 million Euros in funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (funding code 03EI6144B). Of these funds, almost 600,000 Euros will be allocated to the University of Passau. The project consortium, coordinated by the OTH Regensburg, brings together expertise from science and practice. In addition to the University of Passau, it includes the Institut für Energietechnik IfE GmbH at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Amberg-Weiden, Stiftung Umweltenergierecht, Stadtwerk Haßfurt, TTTech Deutschland GmbH, and several associated partners such as Bayernwerk Netz GmbH.

Symbolic picture: Adobe Stock