We were able to achieve the systemic CO2 savings of around 197,394 tonnes of CO2 in 2021 and 363,267 tonnes in 2022 with the help of our customers, because we market their flexibilities on the power market in such a way that the use of green power increases overall compared to a scenario without the use of flexibilities.
Flexibility as Virtual Memory
For example, when there is a lot of wind or solar power available, we use our short-term trading to ensure that more electricity is consumed than during periods when we have to rely on fossil fuel-based power generation. From the perspective of the overall system, this flexibility has the same effect as, for example, a battery storage system that stores electricity when the share of renewables is high and discharges it when generation is insufficient. Flexibility thus also helps stabilize the system.
Market prices as an energy transition motivator
When wind and solar power plants are operating at full capacity, prices on the electricity market fall. Because the electricity market uses price signals to incentivize the use of green electricity and makes production processes attractive during periods of low prices, it exerts a highly effective steering influence on consumption patterns. This should be promoted as part of the energy transition. Since consumption and generation must always be balanced down to the second, and since forecasting errors in weather-dependent electricity generation continue to increase with the expanding deployment of renewables, it is important, for example, to encourage flexible industrial processes to increase their load precisely during these time windows and, in turn, reduce it when there is a shortage of renewable energy and fossil fuel generation must step in. The price signals from short-term trading provide this incentive.
What does that have to do with CO2?
The steering effect of short-term trading described above kills two birds with one stone. On the one hand, it supports the electricity grid by helping to better coordinate generation and consumption and reduce costly redispatch measures. On the other hand, the use of flexibility in short-term trading enables the increased use of green electricity, which displaces fossil base load and thus saves CO2. Germany therefore needs a flexibility offensive in order to manage the energy transition, apart from austerity measures - flexibility is important and is also fun from an economic point of view!
