Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung ISI

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  • Publication
    One service fits all? Insights on demand response dilemmas of differently equipped households in Germany
    ( 2024)
    Pelka, Sabine orcid-logo
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    Preuß, Sabine orcid-logo
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    Stute, Judith orcid-logo
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    Chappin, Emile
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    Vries, Laurens de
    Households equipped with flexible technologies, such as electric vehicles, can support the energy transition by shifting electricity consumption to times of high renewable supply and by preventing consumption peaks that cannot be covered by existing grid and generation infrastructure. Demand response services support households in performing these consumption shifts. Households ask for specifications of services that stand partly in contrast to each other. For instance, while electric vehicle owners tend to insist on retaining control over their charging, others prefer data-driven automation to minimize their active involvement. Recent studies exploring the acceptance of demand response services focused either solely on specific household groups (e.g. electric vehicle users) or on a broad representative sample without further differentiation. Complementarily to fill this gap, we examine differences in preferences for contrasting service designs between household groups. Specifically, we consider: (i) the type of flexible technology to which demand response is applied, and (ii) the adoption level, i.e., whether the households plan to, or currently own, a flexible technology. In a vignette survey, we examine the preferences towards four contrasting service designs with German households that either own or have expressed interest in acquiring a flexible technology (n = 962). Our results show that the preferences do not fundamentally differ between the kind of flexible technology and adoption level. Generally, participants prefer automated demand response services with data sharing. The added value of realizing energy cost savings effectively and efficiently stands out as the main driver for the diffusion of demand response services, outweighing data privacy concerns. Contrary to our expectations, electric vehicle owners did not show a special need for control and households not yet owning flexible technologies did not express a need for little effort. We discuss the implications of our findings for demand response service providers and outline pathways of future research in this domain.
  • Publication
    Tariff option preferences for smart and bidirectional charging: Evidence from battery electric vehicle users in Germany
    ( 2024)
    Helferich, Marvin orcid-logo
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    Tröger, Josephine orcid-logo
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    Stephan, Annegret orcid-logo
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    Preuß, Sabine orcid-logo
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    Pelka, Sabine orcid-logo
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    Stute, Judith orcid-logo
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    Plötz, Patrick orcid-logo
    Smart charging of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) can contribute to flexibility in power grids and help integrate renewable electricity. Tapping into this potential requires high user acceptance for smart charging and corresponding tariffs. In this paper, we analyze the preferences of current BEV users, representing the potential near-term adopters of smart charging, for different smart charging tariff design elements by conducting a discrete choice experiment with 689 participants in Germany. In doing so, we (1) provide an overview of current BEV users' preferences, (2) identify and characterize BEV user groups with substantial differences in their preferences, and (3) identify barriers for smart charging implementation from the perspective of current BEV users. More specifically, we find that potential cost savings along with the pricing scheme and charging mode are the most important tariff elements, whereof a pre-defined price corridor with an emergency price for grid bottlenecks and charging a safety buffer before applying smart charging are most preferred. We identify three user groups, with a large share of innovative adopters. Moreover, driving range or reluctance regarding data sharing can represent barriers for smart charging adoption. Based on our findings, we derive implications for decision-makers in policy and industry.
  • Publication
    Assessing the conditions for economic viability of dynamic electricity retail tariffs for households
    ( 2024)
    Stute, Judith orcid-logo
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    Pelka, Sabine orcid-logo
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    Kühnbach, Matthias orcid-logo
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    Klobasa, Marian orcid-logo
    The success of the energy transition relies on effectively utilizing flexibility in the power system. Dynamic tariffs are a highly discussed and promising innovation for incentivizing the use of residential flexibility. However, their full potential can only be realized if households achieve significant benefits. This paper specifically addresses this topic. We examine the leverage of household flexibility and the financial benefits of using dynamic tariffs, considering household heterogeneity, the costs of home energy management systems and smart meters, the impact of higher electricity prices and price spreads and the differences between types of prosumers. To comprehensively address this topic, we use the EVaTar-building model, a simulation framework that includes embedded optimization designed to simulate household electricity consumption patterns under the influence of a home energy management system or in response to dynamic tariffs. The study's main finding is that households can achieve significant cost savings and increase flexibility utilization by using a home energy management system and dynamic electricity tariffs, provided that electricity prices and price spreads reach higher levels. When comparing price levels in a low and high electricity price scenario, with an increase of the average electricity price by 15.2 €ct/kWh (67% higher than the average for the year 2019) and an increase of the price spread by 8.9 €ct/kWh (494% higher), the percentage of households achieving cost savings increases from 3.9% to 62.5%. Households with both an electric vehicle and a heat pump observed the highest cost benefits. Sufficiently high price incentives or sufficiently low costs for home energy management systems and metering point operation are required to enable households to mitigate rising electricity costs and ensure residential flexibility for the energy system through electric vehicles and heat pumps.