Some 1.6 million mainly decentralized and renewable generation plants already have to be integrated into the overall system with their fluctuating feed-in. This can only be achieved with the help of digital systems and a state-of-the-art infrastructure. Moreover, digitization does not stop at the previous value creation stages and boundaries of the energy industry . Rather, it reinforces the breaking down of what were once fixed system and process boundaries. The electricity, heat and transport sectors are becoming increasingly blurred. Consumers are becoming players, new market levels are opening up for renewables, and fully digitized, cross-sector business models are establishing themselves on the market.
This means that the complexity of the overall system will continue to increase. Today, local grid operators are already commissioning large-scale batteries and storing surplus energy from renewables in order to release it again with a time delay. This supports the grid and opens up new marketing opportunities in the balancing energy markets. Tests with platforms based on blockchain have already been launched, on which private decentralized producers and consumers can trade electricity directly with each other or decentralized photovoltaic home storage can be used to stabilize the power grid.
In the first commercial offerings, customers can access their electricity consumption in real time on their smartphones, device-by-device. New business models based on this aim to provide incentives to save energy or to shift electricity consumption over time through external control. Electric heaters and heat pumps, like electric vehicles, are recognized and used as a flexible load in the overall system. The flexibility gained in this way is marketed and the customer participates in it financially.
Energy transition requires rethinking
The examples show that we have arrived at a new level in the implementation of the energy transition, beyond all discussions about the further expansion of renewable energies. This also means a rethinking for politics and administration and requires new instruments to accompany the change in a positive way. These include the establishment and expansion of research, cooperation and start-up platforms, such as the Center for Digitalization Bavaria with its thematic platform on energy, or new initiatives such as the Energy Start-up Bavaria competition to promote innovative start-ups with a connection to Bavaria's energy future and to network them directly into the energy industry.
At the same time, however, we must also adapt our funding instruments in the energy sector to the new requirements. In the past, for example, the focus was often on purely investment-based promotion of regenerative generation plants or regenerative heating systems without additional systemic benefits.
Promotional programs in the energy sector
That's why my house has launched the 10,000 Houses Program, a promotional program that is so far unique in Germany and promotes the use of innovative heating/storage systems with energy management systems, thereby enabling the storage of energy and the flexibilization of energy procurement. In addition, the funding program is handled via a specially designed online platform.
Another example is our Funding Program Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles in Bavaria , which is carried out by Bayern Innovativ for the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. Here, project applications that offer systemic added value, such as controlled and load-optimized charging, receive a ten-percent funding premium.
Our program for the "Promotion of Energy Concepts and Municipal Energy Utilization Plans" is now also to be optimized and digitalized. Energy utilization plans help municipalities implement a sustainable energy generation and energy supply structure. For each municipality, they first include a comprehensive inventory of the existing energy infrastructure as well as the object-specific energy demand with a detailed energy and CO2 balance in the areas of electricity and heat. This is followed by a site-specific analysis of the potential for expanding renewable energy sources and the energy-saving opportunities for households and businesses. A catalog of measures will be developed on the basis of this inventory analysis. The measures are then subjected to a detailed technical and economic review and implemented in collaboration with local stakeholders.
First digital energy use plan since November 2017
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