Press Release

Berlin, 20 June 2024 09:00 CEST — Energy innovators Ostrom and be.storaged are excited to announce the launch of Germany’s first Virtual Power Plant (VPP) project, pioneering the use of electric vehicle (EV) charging adaptability. This groundbreaking initiative, the largest of its kind in Germany, leverages the flexibility of EVs and various energy assets such as heat pumps and home battery storage to trade in the intraday market. By doing so, it aims to enhance energy efficiency, improve grid stability, and deliver substantial cost savings to end customers, setting a new standard for innovation in the energy sector.

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Photo: Dr. Max Kronberg, Head of Digital Solutions at be.storaged and Matthias Martensen, Co-Founder & CEO at Ostrom

Making Renewable Energy Volatility Work For Us, Not Against Us

The expansion of renewables has introduced increased volatility to the energy market, making it essential to optimize end-customer consumption to maintain grid security in Germany and offer customers even more competitive electricity prices. Instead of perceiving the volatility as a risk, it can also be seen as an opportunity to shift energy consumption during lower demand or higher supply situations when energy prices are cheaper.

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VPPs are networks of decentralized energy resources, such as EVs, heat pumps and home batteries, coordinated through a central system — in this case through Ostrom and be.storaged — to function like a unified power plant. This system optimizes energy production, storage, and consumption, enhancing the stability and efficiency of the electrical grid while simultaneously reducing costs for consumers. With Germany's energy mix already at 60% coming from renewable sources in 2024 and targeting 80% by 2030, the demand for such smart energy management solutions is increasing significantly.

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“This has been a long time coming, from building our Ostrom app to adding all our integrations and supporting smart meters and dynamic tariffs. We can now finally realize the huge VPP potential in Germany."

‍Matthias Martensen
Co-Founder, CEO (Ostrom)

The Ostrom App Meets the be.storaged Trading Platform

Leveraging the widespread use of the Ostrom App and its support for smart meter data and dynamic pricing tariffs, Ostrom plays a key role in this project by onboarding customers. Starting with Tesla EVs and eventually expanding to other car brands and then to other energy asset classes such as home batteries and heat pumps, heat pumps, and home battery storage devices, Ostrom also manages the integration and steers the EV charging process to enable the VPP.

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Through the Ostrom App, customers can set their preferred charging times and consumption amounts to participate in the VPP. This data, combined with the current possibility of flexible charging times for EVs during the charging process, is transmitted directly to Ostrom’s systems. The flexibility derived from the charging processes is then sent to the trading optimization engine of be.storaged, where it is aggregated. This aggregated flexibility potential is continuously traded on the intraday continuous market. The resulting optimized schedules for charging the participating vehicles are subsequently sent to Ostrom to control the charging processes of the connected EVs. Based on updated battery and price data, this process is then continuously repeated throughout the charging period.

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“This is an exceptionally exciting project that leverages the full potential of the continuous intraday market, setting it apart from other smart charging platforms and making a significant impact on clients' wallets."

‍Dr. Fabian Knoch
Head of Platform Development & Flexibility Trading (be.storaged)

Unlocking Consumer Benefits Through Smart Energy Collaboration

This collaboration leverages the continuous optimization of charging schedules based on changing intraday prices, which generate significant trading benefits, which will be shared with the end customers.

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Without any effort on their part, customers’ EVs are charged during the cheapest and greenest hours overnight while simultaneously supporting the stability of the energy grid. Over the course of a year, customers that participate in the VPP project stand to earn up to €300 in additional income per connected asset. This means customers literally get paid to charge their EV. Furthermore, as this is per connected asset, when combined with heat pumps, solar PV systems and home battery storage devices, savings could reach over €1000 per year.

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Moreover, because charging is shifted to the hours when there is the lowest demand, more of this charging can happen during times with a higher renewables mix rather than when fossil fuel powered peaker plants are needed. It truly is a win-win-win-win scenario for us, our consumers, the grid and the environment.

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The VPP project represents a significant advancement towards an intelligent and interconnected energy ecosystem, benefiting both end customers, energy providers and our energy grid. This partnership between Ostrom and be.storaged highlights how innovative solutions and collaborations can accelerate the energy transition and create new opportunities for the flexible and efficient utilization of renewable energies.

About Ostrom

Ostrom is a green energy provider based in Berlin founded in 2021, helping consumers control and reduce their energy consumption through its smart energy management platform. The company offers a variable electricity tariff SimplyFair and the SimplyDynamic tariff with dynamic pricing supported by smart meters. Smart EV Charging, HVAC optimization, Solar-PV integrations and more can all controlled via the Ostrom App and the Ostrom Store offers smart home devices.

About be.storaged

be.storaged, a subsidiary of EWE AG founded in 2017, provides customers and partners with innovative and efficient energy storage and energy management systems. These offer both technically and economically sustainable solutions for intelligent energy use. With more than 80 employees in the areas of project planning, implementation, software development, operation and marketing, be.storaged combines specialist knowledge with experience from the energy industry and can thus offer optimally coordinated offers from technology, software, operation and marketing.