“If a large number of new heat pumps and charging stations continue to be installed, then there is a risk of overload problems and local power failures in the distribution network if we don’t act,” said Klaus Müller, President of the Federal Network Agency, of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” (FAS). The Bonn authority apparently considers the local low-voltage local networks to be at risk and proposes electricity rationing as a countermeasure.
According to the FAS, the network agency has published a key issues paper that provides for temporary electricity rationing for heat pumps and electric car charging stations for times of high network utilization. Grid operators should then be forced to throttle the power supply of the systems in a centrally coordinated manner. The plans for electricity rationing should therefore come into force on January 1, 2024.
According to the report, heaters and storage devices should not be completely separated from the power supply. Müller: “We want to guarantee a minimum supply at all times.” Even with electricity rationing, private private charging stations should be able to obtain enough electricity to charge the battery of an electric car within three hours for a range of 50 kilometers. In addition, according to Müller in the interview, “almost trouble-free continued operation” should remain possible for a large number of heat pumps. (awm)