BVES calls for a revi­sion of the BMWK elec­tri­city sto­rage stra­tegy for effi­ci­ency and tech­no­lo­gi­cal open­ness

The paper gene­rally iden­ti­fies the right points. Nevert­hel­ess, in the final stages of draf­ting, cer­tain out­da­ted for­mu­la­ti­ons were intro­du­ced which, due to their cla­rity, could hin­der a con­s­truc­tive and solu­tion-ori­en­ted dis­cus­sion. These state­ments ulti­m­ately unneces­s­a­rily com­pro­mise the sub­stan­tive con­sis­tency of the energy sto­rage stra­tegy.

Chal­lenges from regio­nal dif­fe­ren­ces and com­plex regu­la­ti­ons

This includes in par­ti­cu­lar the clear empha­sis on the clas­si­fi­ca­tion of energy sto­rage sys­tems as end con­su­mers and pro­du­cers. This reopens a dog­ma­tic dis­cus­sion that should have been con­cluded with the adop­tion of the sto­rage defi­ni­tion in the Energy Indus­try Act (EnWG). The EnWG clas­si­fies sto­rage as a “shift in energy use” and no lon­ger sim­ply as an end con­su­mer. Such out­da­ted and dog­ma­tic dis­cus­sions make the search for solu­ti­ons to the pro­blems in the energy sys­tem more com­pli­ca­ted.

The BVES is par­ti­cu­larly con­cer­ned about the patch­work of regio­nally vary­ing regu­la­tory frame­works, which leads to high bureau­cra­tic effort and legal uncer­tainty. This affects pro­ject finan­cing and can even lead to pro­ject can­cel­la­ti­ons and redu­ced invest­ments.

Tech­no­logy neu­tra­lity and mar­ket oppor­tu­ni­ties

The BVES empha­si­zes the importance of tech­no­lo­gi­cal neu­tra­lity to create a frame­work in which energy sto­rage can ope­rate across its entire tech­no­lo­gi­cal spec­trum. The stra­tegy should include a re-eva­lua­tion of exis­ting regu­la­ti­ons and the estab­lish­ment of a dedi­ca­ted regu­la­tory frame­work for energy sto­rage.

Energy sto­rage sys­tems and elec­tri­city sto­rage sys­tems should not only be seen as fle­xi­bi­lity pro­vi­ders, but also as enablers of a wide range of appli­ca­ti­ons in the pri­vate, com­mer­cial and indus­trial sec­tors. The limi­ta­tion of this stra­tegy to the elec­tri­city sec­tor is under­stan­da­ble. But it should lay the ground­work for sec­tor cou­pling and con­sider future deve­lo­p­ments in ther­mal and hydro­gen sto­rage. This is the pre­re­qui­site for energy sto­rage sys­tems to deve­lop their full poten­tial and make a sys­te­mic con­tri­bu­tion.

The BVES calls for cla­ri­fi­ca­tion of respon­si­bi­li­ties and joint coor­di­na­tion for the imple­men­ta­tion of the stra­tegy. A strict time­line and com­mit­ment are requi­red in order to imple­ment the stra­tegy by the end of the legis­la­tive period. That is essen­tial for pro­vi­ding the gro­wing energy sto­rage sec­tor with a sta­ble mar­ket basis and at the same time mee­ting the requi­re­ments of a chan­ging energy sys­tem.

The BVES, as a repre­sen­ta­tive of the energy sto­rage indus­try, is ready to pro­vide its exper­tise and actively con­tri­bute to advan­cing the BMWK’s stra­tegy initia­tive.