ᐅ Planned Throttling of Electric Vehicle Chargers and Heat Pumps
Created on: 15 Mar 2023 10:16
S
sub-xero
Hello dear photovoltaic enthusiasts,
Like many others, I had my new build equipped one year ago with a photovoltaic system, battery storage, heat pump, and electric vehicle charger. Everything is running to my highest satisfaction, and on average over the year, I am about 75% self-sufficient (including electricity for the heat pump).
Now, the politicians in our so-called banana republic Germany have come up with the brilliant idea to throttle the power supply for heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers starting in 2024. The reason is that our power grids would be completely overloaded with the expected development (electric cars and heat pumps). I understand that the promotion of electric vehicles and heat pumps does not fit well with the unplanned and poorly thought-out implementation of renewable energy, and therefore, shortages are likely to occur.
In this context, I am interested in how this throttling would actually be implemented in practice. Here are a few questions for open discussion:
The electricity I draw from the grid cannot be divided into "electricity for the EV charger," "electricity for the heat pump," "electricity for the household," etc. It is a total amount of X kW. Statements like:
According to the concept of the Federal Network Agency, if a shortage threatens, for example, EV chargers or heat pumps should be throttled down to a power of 3.7 kilowatts to prevent an overload.
are, in my view, completely unrealistic. The devices are not supplied individually from the grid. In a worst-case scenario, there would then be no electricity left for the freezer or the computer. That is obviously not acceptable.
Grid operators want to be able to "unilaterally and indefinitely" throttle devices in case of an impending grid overload. The planned regulation applies only to households that have installed, for example, an EV charger or a heat pump. The household itself would remain unaffected by a possible short-term dimming. The refrigerator, washing machine, and internet would continue to operate as usual.
How is this supposed to work technically?
In any case, the usefulness of installing heat pumps in houses without photovoltaic systems is questionable.
If private EV chargers are throttled, the trend toward e-mobility in Germany will definitely be further hindered. (Charging at 3.7 kW is possible and sufficient in many cases, but firstly, the power loss is relatively high, and secondly, in some situations, one wants to be able to charge faster with 11 kW.)
Like many others, I had my new build equipped one year ago with a photovoltaic system, battery storage, heat pump, and electric vehicle charger. Everything is running to my highest satisfaction, and on average over the year, I am about 75% self-sufficient (including electricity for the heat pump).
Now, the politicians in our so-called banana republic Germany have come up with the brilliant idea to throttle the power supply for heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers starting in 2024. The reason is that our power grids would be completely overloaded with the expected development (electric cars and heat pumps). I understand that the promotion of electric vehicles and heat pumps does not fit well with the unplanned and poorly thought-out implementation of renewable energy, and therefore, shortages are likely to occur.
In this context, I am interested in how this throttling would actually be implemented in practice. Here are a few questions for open discussion:
The electricity I draw from the grid cannot be divided into "electricity for the EV charger," "electricity for the heat pump," "electricity for the household," etc. It is a total amount of X kW. Statements like:
According to the concept of the Federal Network Agency, if a shortage threatens, for example, EV chargers or heat pumps should be throttled down to a power of 3.7 kilowatts to prevent an overload.
are, in my view, completely unrealistic. The devices are not supplied individually from the grid. In a worst-case scenario, there would then be no electricity left for the freezer or the computer. That is obviously not acceptable.
Grid operators want to be able to "unilaterally and indefinitely" throttle devices in case of an impending grid overload. The planned regulation applies only to households that have installed, for example, an EV charger or a heat pump. The household itself would remain unaffected by a possible short-term dimming. The refrigerator, washing machine, and internet would continue to operate as usual.
How is this supposed to work technically?
In any case, the usefulness of installing heat pumps in houses without photovoltaic systems is questionable.
If private EV chargers are throttled, the trend toward e-mobility in Germany will definitely be further hindered. (Charging at 3.7 kW is possible and sufficient in many cases, but firstly, the power loss is relatively high, and secondly, in some situations, one wants to be able to charge faster with 11 kW.)
RotorMotor schrieb:
So, no problem at all. They just shouldn’t miss making the technology controllable.
I find it unfortunate how many subsidized wallboxes have been installed for a lot of money without any benefit for the general public.
Regulations or requirements for public use should have been included from the start. All subsidized wallboxes have an intelligent control system integrated. This was a condition to be included on the list of approved units in the first place. The problem was that this was only a prerequisite, and there have been no clear details about the final implementation. Those who planned ahead had a second data cable installed alongside the LAN cable to the wallbox as a precaution. I’m curious to see how the intelligent control will work in practice.
R
RotorMotor15 Mar 2023 18:17In fact, the KfW information sheet states that only wallboxes that can be retrofitted are eligible for funding. I am very curious to see which manufacturer will actually integrate this feature and, above all, which customer will actually activate it. As far as I know, there are no obligations in this regard at the moment?!
Bausparfuchs schrieb:
It won’t work. In recent years, nearly every town and village in Germany has been dug up to install fiber optic cables. However, they neglected to install new, higher-capacity power cables at the same time. Efficiency and forward-looking planning just aren’t strengths of the German government. Here he is again, as reliable as Swiss clockwork 🙂
I don’t need higher-capacity power cables (just the wording alone…) as part of the fiber optic rollout. My house connection can handle 85 kW, so I could put up five to seven more 11 kW wallboxes easily. The issue isn’t with the distribution networks, but rather what and how energy enters the local grids—that is, from the power plants and via the high-voltage transmission lines.
It will be interesting to see how remote control of wallboxes is practically implemented. My in-laws have two Go-e units on the wall, funded by a subsidy. They have Wi-Fi, but the garage does not.
W
WilderSueden16 Mar 2023 09:23Local grids are definitely a challenge. In our old apartment building, we had an underground parking garage with nearly 200 parking spaces. Even with load management, a new connection for the garage is necessary. Next door, there is a parking garage of similar size. And that’s just for the cars. With heat pumps serving 50 to 60 residential units per building, substantial electrical connections are also required. Additional connections in the megawatt range are no longer simply added to existing distribution panels. This doesn’t distract from the fact that high-voltage lines and long-distance electricity transmission are a problem—one that will likely worsen due to varying weather conditions.
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