Adjustable power is not moving fast enough toward GOPACS

30 October 2024

Bron: Solar365 | Steeds meer eigenaren van energiebronnen met een regelbaar vermogen melden zich aan voor GOPACS. GOPACS is committed to resolving and preventing grid congestion by providing a platform on which flexible power can be connected in a way that grid operators can understand and call for it. Mike ten Wolde, director of GOPACS, has only one goal in mind: reduce grid congestion before the problem gets bigger than it needs to be.

The GOPACS platform is unique in Europe and also worldwide. All Dutch grid operators are connected to GOPACS to streamline electricity supply and demand coordination. GOPACS does this by, for example, asking its connections to purchase less electricity for a fee or to feed in at times when a grid operator signals that the pressure on the grid is too great.

Compensation is not determined by GOPACS. GOPACS participants can trade their energy flexibility through the energy trading platforms ETPA and EPEX SPOT. It is also possible to call the power via a capacity contract, entered into by the grid operator. For example, a company may indicate on this that a certain amount of batteries are connected to the grid, a large arrangement of solar panels may be scaled down or a fleet of electric cars may start charging at times when there is a surplus of energy. This allows supply and demand to come together without overloading the grid, preventing grid congestion

Until now, only parties with a capacity of at least one hundred kilowatt-hours could register with GOPACS but soon smaller electrical installation can also be registered. Ten Wolde: “We will start next year with what we call low-voltage aggregation. The idea is to smartly unlock. For example, if you have five public charging stations of 22 kilowatts, you are already over 100 kilowatts. With ten home charging poles of 11 kilowatts each, you’ll get there quickly, too. We are therefore going to explore next year how to efficiently use low-voltage aggregation so that we can eventually unlock households as well.”

Charging poles are one of the most obvious solutions to solving decreasing grid congestion, argues Ten Wolde. “And I can also explain those: for example, with charging stations we are talking about a power of 11 or even 22 kilowatts. That’s quite a bit. But a car doesn’t necessarily charge at that peak capacity. You can also choose to charge one kilowatt over eleven hours instead of 11 kilowatts in one hour, especially since the car often sits idle for long periods of time anyway. The key to success, then, is in smart loading and good organization, because that requires clear communication and coordination”, said Ten Wolde.

Apply energy flexibility The goal of GOPACS is ultimately to reduce grid congestion by applying energy flexibility. The single most important solution to addressing grid congestion remains expanding infrastructure states, Ten Wolde. But after that, it is also very important to be efficient with our energy system.

Ten Wolde: “Building is most important, but I often compare it to highways. Rijkswaterstaat can still accept traffic jams, but we as network operators cannot. When electrons stand still, you get a blackout – something we absolutely cannot afford. Congestion management is therefore actually congestion management for the power grid: you try to prevent congestion from occurring.

You can choose to physically extend the grid, just like highways. But we have seen in the Netherlands that this often leads to new bottlenecks elsewhere, so you end up in an endless cycle. Still, expanding is sometimes unavoidable, such as now in the Netherlands, where the network congestion problem is becoming too great.

The question then is: Do you expand the grid for those peak times from, say, 6 pm to 9 pm? Or take a smarter approach, such as congestion management – similar to road pricing – to better distribute the load? The solution lies in a combination of both: expand the grid, but not for the maximum peak, while continuing to use congestion management, as that is ultimately the most beneficial for society.”

Call: report controllable assets to GOPACS One of the biggest challenges currently facing grid operators is finding controllable power. It is not a requirement for owners of large electrical installations to register their controllable power with GOPACS. Ten Wolde thinks it should be a matter of course to do that notification. “You will receive market compensation and help society. What other drives would you like,” Ten Wolde wonders.

Ten Wolde believes that we already have all the pieces of the puzzle to address grid congestion but that they still need to fall into place in the coming years.

Ten Wolde argues that congestion problems will worsen in early 2026 if sufficient regulating capacity is not found in time. It is expected that there will then be no more room on the grid to connect new (small) consumers. Ten Wolde: “Major expansions and anticipated congestion begin in 2026, although in some areas this may be earlier. Nationwide, that period runs from 2026 to 2035, with regional differences. Internally, we are feeling the pressure, because we only have a year – maybe a little longer – to get the key components in order. Everything must then run smoothly, so for this we really need the market players as well. Because flexible power we arrange together.”

Ten Wolde would therefore like to make the following appeal: “Report controllable assets to GOPACS. This is the time to take action because the current situation feels like the calm before the storm. People may not notice much now, but the pressure will soon increase.”

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