Prepared for regional self-supply? On the regional fit of electricity demand and supply in Germany

Decentralized systems seeking to balance electricity supply and demand regionally are increasingly being discussed. Regional flexibility concepts, however, require spatially and temporally highly resolved knowledge. To provide this, we investigate the 2030 demand, supply, and demand-side flexibility for the German NUTS-3 regions. We (1) model the hourly regional electricity demand and supply, (2) cluster regions with regard to the regional demand and supply fit and (3) evaluate demand response for the identified clusters. While in windy or industrialized regions, the impact of demand response is low, in urban regions on the other hand, the effectiveness of flexible end uses is higher and residual load is flattened. Regions with medium-sized cities or those with smaller energy-intensive industries show a good regional fit. Here, demand response can be used very effectively to increase the regionally consumed share of electricity.