A big challenge
Mats Karlström about system shifts
Entrepreneur and systems solver in planned consumption, board member of Sveriges Energigemenskaper, and co-founder of Ferroamp.
In the so-called 400 Volt networks, where we live and operate, the changed use of the power grid in the form of solar energy and electric vehicle charging has led to the risk of unmanageable congestion in cables and transformers.
The issues in their volume are relatively new, primarily because of solar energy production, which generates most energy during midday, and electric vehicle charging, which is controlled to the cheapest hours of the day through remote control of charging boxes.
These are new systems and chargers that have emerged in recent years and are expected to increase in scope due to economic and technical development. Energy communities mainly operate in this part of the power grid. The physical bottleneck, called the substation (where the high voltage of the grid is transformed into the usable 400/230V we have in our homes), sets limits for how development can continue.
So far, the sale of solar panels has been based on personal finances, and electric vehicle charging can occur without major issues using charging boxes that can increasingly be remotely controlled, so charging automatically takes place at the cheapest hours. Today, we see that more and more customers are unable to install solar panels because the local grid is overloaded. This is a physical limit that requires expensive upgrades.
We are seeing more and more electric vehicles on our driveways, but we are just at the beginning of this development. The traditional and outdated way we manage our local grids cannot keep up with this rapid growth. We need new rules and methods for cooperation where we live if we want development to continue. If we do not change the way we handle our local grids, it will become unfair and insecure.
With coordinated control, joint ownership, and involvement, we can influence our electricity costs while becoming profitable resources in the power grid.