The Danish Energy Agency today published our report on how distributed energy resources (DERs) like electric vehicles (EVs), heat pumps and solar panels will impact the distribution grid in Denmark. You can read the full report here.

Utiligize has analysed a large part of the 0.4kV, 10kV and 60kV grid, totaling 42% of the Denmark, to investigate where and how capacity will be constrained as millions of EVs, heat pumps and solar panels get connected to the grid. The overall results are:

1. The cost to reinforce the distribution grid will be 2 billion DKK (€270M) towards 2030, smaller than previous estimates as high as 19 billion DKK (€2.6 billion). This means the value of flexibility for the distribution grid is only 37 DKK (€5) per EV in 2030.
2. Flexibility is, however, worth over 21 billion DKK (€2.8 billion) for the whole society over the next 20 years, which will result in much lower electricity bills for consumers who respond to energy-price signals (i.e. the spot price). Just 7% of the value of flexibility lies in saved infrastructure costs at the distribution grid, however.
3. The distribution grid is quite old in places and will need significant reinvestment over the coming 20 years. Technological developments mean that capacity will increase significantly due to this reinvestment, limiting the value of flexibility for the distribution grid.