Recording of Wednesday, June 19, 2024 | The smarter E Europe 2024 | Conference Program | Language: English | Duration: 13:57 .
Dr. Frank Schlichting, CEO of Kiwigrid GmbH, discusses the role of prosumers—households that produce and consume energy—in accelerating the energy transition. He highlights the complexity introduced by various devices in modern homes (heat pumps, PV systems, EV chargers) and their integration into energy management systems. Despite these challenges, there’s significant potential for growth; projections suggest up to 190 million such devices by 2050. Dr. Schlichting underscores the importance of flexible and efficient energy use within homes to mitigate grid load issues both locally and Europe-wide. Effective home energy management can offer substantial savings (upwards of €1400 per year) through intelligent optimization. Basic strategies include monitoring household consumption patterns and using renewable sources for high-energy tasks like charging EVs or operating heat pumps when solar generation is optimal. He emphasizes cross-sectoral approaches encompassing heating, mobility, electricity supply sectors along with grid engagement as essential for maximizing benefits to consumers while stabilizing overall grid demand through peak shaving initiatives.
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Dr. Frank Schlichting
CEO
Kiwigrid GmbH
Germany
Active consumer involvement is a crucial aspect of the energy transition. Demand-side flexibility is essential for a flexible energy system that integrates the exponentially growing number of distributed energy resources. Both the system and society in general need consumers to adapt their energy usage to the available network capacity. Digitalization and new technologies - such as smart meters - as well as market-based solutions will allow consumers to become active players. However, being able does not necessarily mean being willing, so incentives are needed. This session will also address how our grid can be prepared to meet consumer expectations and how to deal with a flood of connection requests in a timely manner while ensuring security of supply.
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