If certain groups are routinely excluded from data, their problems may be overlooked and their communities held back in spite of progress elsewhere. To ensure that all individuals have access to the benefits offered by data-driven innovation and that no group is systemically disadvantaged, data should be made available to all.
The new SolarPaket 1 law, introduced in 2024, will relax the regulation of Mini-PV installations or
“Balkonkraftwerke”. They can be bigger - 800W inverter with a 2 kWp solar panel, they can use a
normal plug to connect to the house wiring, they do not need any additional metering and can export surplus to the low voltage grid. The existing analog meters (which can go backwards) are allowed until replaced (the householder effectively receives his supply price for feeding into the low voltage grid). The installation has to be registered with a Market Register (MaStR) but not with the network operator. It is estimated as of July 2024, 500.000 installations are operating, in total producing over 20MW of electricity.
There are 52 million electricity metering points in Germany. As of 29th November 2023 less than 1% have intelligent measurement systems (Bundesnetzagentur). Typical levels in many other countries is closer to 90%.
In the recently restarted smart meter program in Germany the majority of small consumers with an annual load under 6000 kWh will receive new smart meters that are not “smart”. These “smart” meters (generally referred to as modern measurement systems) can only record and store daily measurements and have no telecommunications capabilities. Modern measurement systems do not provide power quality or sub-hourly measurements.
Meters with a sub-hourly measurement capability and direct telecommunications (called intelligent
measurement systems) will only be installed for larger customers with a load over 6000 kWh (typically industrial and commercial customers and large residential consumers).
In December 2023 StromNetz Berlin increased their grid management charges from
8,9c/kWh to 11,11c/kWh (a 24% increase) following an increase by the high voltage grid operators of over 100% (3,12c/kWh to 6,43c/kwH). For an average consumer in Berlin (1950 kWh per annum) the grid management charges in 2024 are now over €250 a year and account for over a quarter of the average electricity bill. The grid charges
planned for 2025 and recently announced by StromNetz Berlin have increased again.
Congestion and voltage constraints on the low voltage networks (over-voltage from distributed energy resources delivering too much power onto the network or undervoltage where EV charging stations or heat pumps draw too much power from the system) are a different type of problem to the network frequency management issues on the high voltage networks.
The solution should deliver additional load or remove load at specific congestion points and not across the entire network as is the case with network frequency stabilisation on the high voltage grids. Such points of congestion can change over time and therefore a different pattern of load shedding or addition is needed every time.
Regarding the situation with PV systems, and the over-supply of electricity - Director Klaus Müller said in an interview in August 2024: “There is [currently] no way around making solar systems controllable. They have to react to the market, which means stopping the feed-in if nobody wants to pay for the electricity.
§14a EnWG came into effect on 1. January 2024. but is having little impact due to the absence of intelligent meters and no consensus in the electricty industry on how to apply the concept on a large scale basis.
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