Influence of Flexible Consumers on Local Balancing of Generation and Consumption

Acceptance barriers in the realization of major infrastructure projects, such as extensive expansion of the transmission grid, and increasing generation based on renewable energies are leading to a paradigm shift in electricity supply in Europe. In this context, a frequently discussed trend is the consumption of locally generated energy so-called local balancing. Due to the volatile characteristics of renewable energy plants, flexibility options are a basic precondition for local balancing. This flexibility can be provided by new consumer technologies through the expected coupling with the transport and heating sectors. However, as these options are only available and applicable to a limited extent, an additional integration of electrical energy storages is necessary for an efficient design of local balancing. Therefore, this paper presents a method to balance generation and consumption in a cell-structured system as locally as possible by dimensioning storage systems required for this issue - allowing to evaluate the contribution of flexible consumer technologies.