Provision of grid-serving flexibility by agricultural operations and households in rural power distribution grids

To meet climate protection targets, the holistic energy transition and restructuring of the energy supply system are central challenges of our time. This transition is characterised on one hand by the expansion of distributed renewable energy resources and on the other hand by the increasing sector coupling in the mobility and heating sector. Households and agricultural operations have been participating in the energy transition for many years and are hence the driving force for renewable energy supply in rural regions as well as possible threats for grid stability through their installed components. This paper examines the challenges that arise in rural distribution grids with a high share of prosumer components installed. For this purpose, the current agricultural electricity demand is analysed and a power measurement campaign for various sectors in agriculture is described. The assessment of consequential problems in low voltage grids is supplemented by a discussion of the possibilities of improving grid stability with the provision of grid-serving flexibility by prosumer components.