Why Would A German Battery Agree To Switch Off? - Green Flexbility

**Ed Porter** (0:00)
I'm your host, Ed Porter. Welcome back to Transmission. Transmission Transmission Transmission Transmission Previously, we've seen 800 gigawatts of grid connection requests sitting in Germany's queue. Nobody expects it all to get built, so grid operators are now filtering out who's serious. Getting in the room is just the start. The batteries that make it through face new hurdles from ramp rates to flexible connection agreements. Once connected, do you sell that flexibility away in a toll, or do you stay fully merchant? My guests today, and you'll hear there are two, are Leandra and Christina.
They plan, build and operate batteries in Germany at Green Flexibility, and are responsible for some of the country's earliest flexible connection agreements. This episode looks at what it actually takes to get battery live in one of Europe's most congested grids. If you want to see a forecast of what your assets are worth in Germany, or track live benchmark data, head to modoenergy.com, sign up is free, take seconds, let's jump in.
Hello, Christina, Leandra, welcome to Transmission.

**Christina Hepp** (1:16)
Thanks for having us.

**Ed Porter** (1:17)
Our pleasure, and let's get straight into it. What does everyone get wrong about building batteries in Germany?

**Christina Hepp** (1:23)
I think that's a great question. Because if you're hearing around what the most attractive market is in Europe, Germany quickly comes to mind, and on PowerPoint, it looks great. But if you're in the market and seeing the realities, trying to build, operate and actually plan the project, there's a lot of uncertainties around the grid connection point. So starting from access to the grid connection conditions, to then actually operating the assets. So there's a lot of balls up in the air, and that a lot of aspects are still falling into place, and the rules of the game are still being defined. I think what looks easy on paper is actually in reality a little bit more complex.

**Ed Porter** (1:59)
And does that extend from just the planning and sort of financial planning of the battery? Does that extend into the operational side?

**Christina Hepp** (2:06)
Yes, absolutely. So a lot of the operational conditions already kind of come early into the discussions. We're just trying to manage different stakeholders, be it the grid operator who essentially gives you access and also defines how you can access the grid. So you already need to understand a lot of the operational aspects before you actually finance the project.

**Ed Porter** (2:23)
Okay, thanks Christina. And then Leandra, coming to you, what doesn't make it into that press release?

**Leandra Boes** (2:29)
I think what's always crazy is really the details, right? You really have to remain flexible. And I think what Christina just mentioned is super important as well. Once you have all the relevant input for conducting an FID, from there on it's typically rather smooth. Of course, there's some last minute firefighting on minor details here and there, but problem-solving skills and lots of interdisciplinary teams really help them. But generally, having the FID prep properly, understanding all the conditions, is super important to then actually implement a really stable technology. Because from construction to commissioning, everything's standardised, and that typically works as expected.
However, what doesn't make it into the press releases is the huge amount you have to put in of work just before actually going live then.

**Ed Porter** (3:13)
Yeah, it's one of those famous things that gets said about batteries. They're kind of like Lego blocks, you can just drop them in. In reality, there's a lot more work to getting a battery on site than just sort of plugging them in.
Maybe let's dive in some of those details. So Christina, the FCA problem, a flexible connection agreement, they are intended as a solution to Germany's grid constraints. Are they working?

**Christina Hepp** (3:34)
It's a great question. I think in theory, I have definitely a great way to get batteries on the grid, because it's something we see as well that when we're talking about operational realities and say the incentives the battery gets on how it actually operates in the grid, are based on a really aggregated symbol or signal in the market. So the price signals we're seeing doesn't consider what's actually happening in the regional grids, where a lot of batteries are being built. So the FCA is kind of help solve that mismatch, but also in terms of grid build out, ensuring that maybe batteries can get on to the grid before the grid build out actually happens. So in theory, a nice mechanism to do that. I think what we as a company started on very early is actually engaging with grid operators and discussing this problem, this mismatch. And we actually started an FCA before that term actually existed in the market. So our first asset live now over a year has an FCA from the very beginning. And it's actually quite a funny, I think it's pictured to always use because the batteries in the south of Germany, near the Alps where there's ski season in the winter and often snow isn't on the Alps yet when the ski season opens.