Storage users should benefit from negative prices

22.04.2025

Source: E & M powernews

Energy supplier "1komma5°" wants its customers to benefit from negative wholesale prices and stabilize the grid with the help of a storage system.

It is "economic madness" that surplus electricity from wind and solar power plants is initially "given away" abroad and later bought back at high prices, for example during dark doldrums. This is how Philipp Schröder, CEO and co-founder of Einskommafünfgrad, is quoted in a company press release.

Now the start-up's customers are to become part of the solution to the problem. An AI-controlled storage system is to fix it: When stock market prices are particularly low, storage is to be fully automated. In high-price phases, the electricity will then be made available to the customer or sold. "Based on data from almost 50,000 energy systems, we can reduce electricity costs per kWh by up to 50 percent," explains Schröder.

For households with more than 10,000 kWh per year, Einskommafünfgrad promises amortization "after just six years". Accordingly, operators of heat pumps and wallboxes are also the main target group for the offer.

The target group are households with high consumption

Schröder describes the battery as "groundbreaking" in the press release. This is because the AI-supported control software ensures compatibility with all inverters, charging solutions and heat pumps in the customer's portfolio. Until now, the use of "Heartbeat AI" - as the software is called - has been limited to selected manufacturers.

In addition, the surplus electricity remains in Germany and helps to stabilize the grid. What's more, retrofitting the battery to existing solar systems would avoid feed-in tariffs, "which would otherwise lead to high costs for the general public," says Schröder.

The CEO particularly emphasizes that the storage solution is not linked to the purchase and operation of a photovoltaic system. This is a novelty in the German energy landscape.

"Instead of subsidizing the old, rigid energy system with billions, politicians should continue to work on driving forward complete flexibilization and the smart meter rollout and also exempt small electricity storage systems from grid charges, which would once again improve economic efficiency enormously," explains Jannik Schall, co-founder and Head of Product at Einskommafünfgrad.

The company has announced that it will launch the battery on the market at a price of 8,900 euros, including installation, control software and a smart metering system. A monthly fee of 9.90 euros will be charged for the trading function. The provider also states that customers must take out a dynamic electricity tariff.

In November 2024, Einskommafünfgrad announced that it would establish a separate company, "1KOMMA5°Heartbeat GmbH", for the AI platform with its automated trading function and invest a total of 100 million euros in it over the next three years.

At the same time, the company began to expand AI optimization to intraday trading. Einskommafünfgrad promised customers who make their flexibility available for this purpose revenues of up to EUR 1,000 per year.

Author: Fritz Wilhelm