Grid Connection Package of the Federal Government: Technical Foundations for Prioritization Mechanisms and the Coordination of Grid and Renewable Energy Expansion

With the Grid Connection Package, the Federal Government is creating the conditions for better coordination of grid, generation, storage, and consumption expansion. The aim is to accelerate grid connection procedures, use scarce grid connection capacities more efficiently, and align the expansion of the energy system more closely with system benefit. At the same time, the expansion of renewable energy, the electrification of industry, heating, and transport, as well as the ramp-up of storage facilities and data centers, are to be better synchronized with the expansion of grid infrastructure.

As part of the Grid Connection Package, an instrument for better coordination of grid and renewables expansion is being proposed, along with new options for prioritizing grid connection requests in cases of scarce grid connection capacity. On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, E-Bridge supported these initiatives through analyses, data foundations, and application examples. The results are now available for download below.

Prioritization Options for Scarce Grid Connection Capacity: Criteria and Application Examples

Demand for grid connection capacity is currently growing significantly faster than the available capacities in many grid areas. In particular, battery storage systems, data centers, and the electrification of industry, heating, and transport are leading to increasing competition for grid connections. Grid connection capacity is therefore increasingly becoming a scarce resource, the allocation of which must be designed to be transparent, non-discriminatory, and comprehensible.

Against this backdrop, the Grid Connection Package provides a framework for prioritizing grid connection requests. Instead of allocation based solely on a first-come-first-served principle, grid operators will in future be able to take additional criteria into account in cases of connection competition. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy proposes a flexible “toolbox” of seven prioritization criteria for this purpose, which grid operators can use depending on the grid level, regional situation, and type of connection competition.

The proposed criteria include:

• Security and reliability of the electricity supply system
• Existing statutory targets
• Assumptions from approved scenario frameworks (Sections 12a, 14d of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG))
• Needs of operators of adjacent or downstream electricity supply networks
• Efficient use of grid connection points
• Designation of areas in regional or urban land-use plans
• Site-specific nature of connection requests

E-Bridge has elaborated each of these criteria in detail, described their classification within the energy industry context, and illustrated them using concrete application examples from grid practice. The goal is a transparent and appropriate allocation of scarce grid connection capacities, taking into account supply security, system efficiency, and energy policy objectives.

Control Instrument for Coordinating Renewable Energy and Grid Expansion

The Grid Connection Package also provides for a regional control instrument to better synchronize the expansion of renewable energy with the expansion of electricity grids. The background is that additional generation facilities in already heavily loaded grid areas can lead to disproportionately increasing redispatch volumes. The aim of the instrument is therefore to steer new investments more strongly toward grid areas where sufficient grid capacity is available and where the energy generated can be used with as little redispatch requirement as possible.

The basis of the instrument is the transparent designation of so-called capacity-limited grid areas. These are identified using objective criteria and reviewed regularly. The observed curtailment rate of renewable energy due to grid bottlenecks is particularly decisive in this regard.

To develop a nationally consistent data foundation, E-Bridge, together with the BDEW (German Association of Energy and Water Industries) and 21 high-voltage grid operators, analyzed around 3,000 substations. The study shows that capacity limitations are strongly concentrated geographically and are confined to a few structural hotspots. Around six percent of the substations examined are affected for wind energy, and around five percent for photovoltaics. At the same time, these few grid areas account for around 72 percent of the additional redispatch requirement.

The instrument is therefore aimed at a small number of grid hotspots with persistently high curtailment volumes and is intended not to limit the expansion of renewable energy across the board, but rather to improve its system integration.

Downloads (in German)

• Prioritisation Mechanisms under Limited Grid Connection Capacity (Background Paper)
• Prioritisation Mechanisms under Limited Grid Connection Capacity (Presentation)
• Data Basis for a Coordination Instrument for Grid and Renewable Energy Expansion (Presentation)
• Data Basis for a Coordination Instrument for Grid and Renewable Energy Expansion (Background Paper)