Ep. 14: Andreas Jahn of RAP – How Regulation Shapes the Future of Smart Charging & Flexibility
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由机器转录整理而成。译文为机器翻译,可能存在错误。
欢迎收听Smart Charge by RiDERgy播客。我是Claudio Geyken,RiDERgy的创始人兼首席执行官。这档节目专注于探讨能源管理及电动汽车与车队智能充电创新领域的一切话题。
欢迎收听新一期Smart Charge。今天我们邀请到了Andreas Jahn,他是监管援助项目(RAP)的高级研究员,是欧洲在智能能源监管、电力市场改革与电网领域的顶尖专家之一。他拥有超过20年的从业经验,先后供职于德国最早的能源零售商之一Lichtblick、政府部委及行业协会,之后加入RAP,在国际上负责多个重要议题。今天他将带我们揭开能源政策的幕后。为什么灵活性资源往往得不到充分利用?
过时的电网收费机制和监管框架如何阻碍了创新?要让需求侧灵活性、储能以及智能电动汽车和车队充电真正实现规模化,又需要哪些改变?我们还将探讨国际最佳实践、德国的监管瓶颈,以及一个真正面向未来的电力系统应该是什么样的。让我们开始吧。
好的,Andreas,很高兴今天有你加入。你最近怎么样?很高兴来到这里,我状态很好,很期待这次播客。太棒了。在我们开始聊那些关于能源系统和法规的专业话题之前,能先向听众介绍一下自己吗,让大家了解一下Andreas Jahn是谁?当然。我在能源行业已经工作超过20年了。我是从一家能源
零售商起步,后来辗转到了监管机构,在德国政府部委待过一段时间,也在行业协会工作过,现在加入了监管援助项目(RAP)。这一切都是因为当时的政策框架还不够完善,需要随着时间推移不断改进,也因此需要人力资源来推动这项工作。这就是我现在在RAP的原因,致力于完善这一框架,因为改善它能让世界各地都受益,
最终惠及消费者,同时让供给侧为系统做出贡献,助力实现清洁的未来。说得很有道理。往前追溯一步,你是怎么进入能源行业的?是什么吸引了你?其实是自由化的市场。当时有很多就业机会,而我完成
学业之后也不太确定下一步该怎么做,就想着不如试试能源行业,然后我就一直在这里了。那显然是一次很好的市场开放机遇。所以我们说的是2000年前后?对,大约是2000年前后。因为1997年欧盟做出了自由化的决定,但之后也许你可以展开说说,
这个决定传导到德国经历了多长时间,或者你是在哪个节点进入这个行业的,当时的形势是怎样的。对,那确实是一个过程。我们今天所拥有的能源市场,其实主要是由英国推动的,因为英国率先实现了自由化,他们的工业因此获得了更低廉的电价。德国工业界对此非常感兴趣,说,我们也想要
竞争性市场,来降低电价。工业界施加了压力,在这一背景下,当时英国还是欧盟成员国,欧洲内部能源市场主要在布鲁塞尔层面推进,形成了我们现在所有的指导方针和法规体系。那确实是在上个世纪的事了。但最初,德国的情况有些不同。
当时德国没有设立专门的机构来监管能源市场,而是通过参与者之间的协议来推进,由电网协会和行业协会之间协商解决,效力相当有限。那时并没有真正的事前监管,只有事后监管,也就是说,如果你不认同他们达成的协议或当时的合同安排,你只能诉诸法律。这种模式运行了
好几年都不太顺畅。后来,欧盟层面的多数方决定:不行,我们需要更严格的监管,需要一个机构事前设定框架。这个框架涵盖电网的第三方准入,以及费用问题,即电网收费的监管及其背后的方法论。大约在2001年或2002年,监管机构,在此之前只负责
电信和铁路的监管机构,被指定同时承担能源监管职能,并由此负责天然气和电力电网的监管。这就是联邦网络局,德语叫Bundesnetzagentur。对。那么你的第一份工作是在一家新兴的电力公司,是哪家?是Lichtblick。我刚加入的时候感觉就像
跳进了一片未知的水域,但仅仅几周之后,我就已经比所有老牌电网和能源企业都更了解情况了,因为我们想要获得接入机会,而他们从来没有向任何其他供应商提供过接入。那是一段很好的学习经历。过了一段时间,我觉得,好,我可以做这件事了,然后我就有机会来到柏林,加入了
经济部,当时那个部门正在运作,它被称为第三方准入工作组,因为当时还没有监管机构,这也是我后来留在柏林的原因。就在那个时候,如我所说,联邦网络局(BNetzA)正式获得任命。你在部委工作了多长时间?哦,只有一年,但那也是大量的学习,因为那是高度政治性的环境。最后,这个
工作组被解散了,嗯,政治原因吧,就这么说吧。我们被踢出去了,而且不只是我一个人。当时大概有五六个来自行业的人在协助部委做这件事,后来还被调查过,是否属于游说等等,诸如此类。我觉得说实在的,两者都有吧。归根结底是因为德国并没有真正在推动建立一个监管机构。是的,可以说德国
有时候对相关好处很感兴趣,但对于真正建立实现这些好处所需的框架却没那么上心。这大概就是那段需要两三年时间的过渡期。那么在你目前在RAP的职位之前,你还担任过哪些重要职责呢?我在行业协会和零售商那边工作过,后来逐渐转向监管方面,因为在准入和关税监管方面一直存在各种问题,
以及由此衍生出来的种种事务。那段时间我在零售商和协会那边负责监管事务,跟政府部门、监管机构打交道,也参与公开场合的讨论。好的,所以你一直在推动这件事。你从政府部委、行业协会,再到现在的非政府组织,从不同角度审视了监管议题,也就是说,你对
监管这个话题有多元视角,对吗?是的,确实如此。其实这正是我当初思考的出发点,我们只有在框架设计正确、经济激励机制到位的情况下,才能实现系统的高效转型,而那个时候这些条件都不具备。正是在那时,我遇到了现在的同事们。他们说,当然,我们都知道每一项监管都会产生激励,问题在于
这些激励是否真的是你所追求的。好的,我们马上来深入探讨这个问题。在此之前,能否先介绍一下RAP的背景,它的历史、使命,以及你具体负责的工作?当然,感谢你的提问。RAP大约在30年前创立于美国,那时美国的电力市场甚至还没有开放自由化。美国的情况有些特殊,
那里的监管者是在特定任期内被任命或选举产生的。任期一旦结束,相关知识和经验也随之流失。正因如此,有两位监管者开始思考如何将这些知识留存在整个体系和市场中。于是他们找到了一些资助者,RAP就此以一个项目的形式诞生,这也是我们名称的由来。我们现在的运作方式
在全球各地有所不同。在美国,团队成员更多是前监管委员,而在欧洲,我们团队的背景则更加多元,甚至跨行业,不全是来自电力系统,也不全是监管视角,还涉及交通、供热以及工业领域。我们将工业方向纳入团队,是因为这一切都与电气化息息相关。所以
欧洲的情况确实有所不同。我们也在印度和中国开展工作,但那些体系与欧洲体系差距较大,在我们组织内部,遗憾的是这种差距也同样存在。好的,那外界应该如何理解这样一个组织的角色呢?你们希望实现什么目标?存在的主要意义是什么?我想说,我的目标是
让自己变得多余。我们的核心理念当然是以最低成本实现系统脱碳,也就是推动电气化、建立正确的激励机制,让所有人朝着同一个方向努力。遗憾的是,我们目前还没有做到这一点。这就是我们存在的意义,我们的资金主要来自基金会,有时也来自政府机构的合同委托,但不来自私营部门。当然,我们也与私营
部门、其他非政府组织积极合作,帮助在各个司法管辖区推动议题的公开讨论。我们发现,能源市场乃至监管体系在全球各地高度碎片化,因此借鉴其他地区的经验,了解哪些做法有效,并说明哪些方案可行、哪些已在其他地方得到验证,是非常有价值的。就德国而言,我认为德国人会在改一个句子里的标点之前先做上十项研究,
而其他国家则直接推进试点项目、在实践中摸索,这正是交叉借鉴的意义所在。很有道理。所以你们也在努力将这些不同的最佳实践推广到全球,尤其是在你提到的、你们重点深耕的地区。是的,这也是我特别喜欢做的事情,不断学习,思考如何将这些经验适配到其他司法管辖区。这真的很有意义。现在我们来深入探讨
一些具体案例,或者你认为在这个推动电气化与脱碳的新时代中至关重要的监管议题。你能举一些脑海中浮现的例子吗?当然。我认为首先可以确定的是,脱碳要通过电气化来实现。这大概是过去十年最重要的共识之一,因为在我刚进入这个领域时,这一点并不是不言而喻的。所以这无疑是
一个积极进展,但如何以最低成本实现这一目标,我认为目前还不明朗。举个例子,在深入细节之前,我们需要电网来满足客户的各类需求。这至少是过去百年来能源系统的建设逻辑:服务于用电负荷,因此需要灵活的供给。但这一逻辑已经改变了。随着电气化的推进,随着
供给成本的不断下降,主要是光伏和风电,现在储能和电池也加入其中,这是一个改变系统的巨大机遇。如果我们继续沿用旧有模式,恐怕就难以充分受益。正如大家所知,我们已经拥有灵活性资源,但尚未以最优方式加以利用。嗯。那么释放灵活性的障碍是什么?你又识别出了哪些监管最佳实践?说实话,我们在思路上还没有到位,
我多次探讨过这个问题,许多负责运营或政策监管的人脑子里仍然存在这样一种观念:存在需求,就必须从中央层面来满足这一需求。但未来的系统截然不同,它更加去中心化、更具灵活性,且是双向的,我们可以相互协助,然而无论是实践还是框架,目前都尚未成形。这需要逐步建立;部分工作
在某些司法管辖区确实如此,但首先必须结合当地需求来考量。另一方面,这也正是电力如此特殊的原因:通过跨大区域共享,我们能获得巨大收益。以热能为例,我们不会向千里之外的负荷中心供热,但电力在一定程度上可以做到。在一定程度上,拥有本地资产和
灵活性也很重要,这正是该系统的难点所在,它比旧系统以及其他系统都多了更多维度。也许退一步来看:全球存在不同的监管体系。我们能否划分出不同的区域?有自由化市场,也有非自由化市场。这是否是审视全球各国不同能源监管环境的一个好角度?是的,绝对是,这是个很好的问题,谢谢你提出来。那么,
先从这里说起,以欧洲为例,欧洲内部差异很大,但整体上仍相当同质化。而美国在这方面则大相径庭:既有自由化市场,也有完全受管制的市场。由此我们可以相互学习借鉴。中国当然是完全受管制的,几乎没有任何竞争可言。从全球能源市场来看,我认为有三个阶段。第一阶段,可以
对供给侧进行自由化,并为独立发电商建立第三方准入机制,这通常是第一步。第二步是建立竞争性的批发市场,第三步,也就是"冰淇淋的顶端",是竞争性的零售市场。欧洲已经实现了这一点。但如果你来自一个完全受管制的市场,一开始就不应该直接盯着这个目标看,
它有其自身的问题,但这三个步骤是清晰的,每一步都需要不同类型的监管框架。可以说英国是在监管框架方面最先进的市场之一吗?其监管框架对新能源世界非常有利?是的,至少在欧洲某些方面是这样,事实上,这也正是
英国脱欧令人遗憾的原因。英国一直在推动欧洲的这一发展进程。如今,嗯,地理上他们仍在欧洲,但已不再是监管与政策制定机制的一部分。但是,举例来说,英国是欧洲第一个为电网运营商建立激励性监管机制的国家。目前已推出了第二版或第三版,为电网运营商的行为设定了详细的
激励措施。这无疑是有帮助的,不只是建立一个最终并不付诸实践的激励框架。当然,欧洲其他地方也有做得不错的,世界其他地区同样如此。好的,让我们深入一些细节。我想列举几个我所了解的维度,希望你能就此发表看法,或者
也许再补充一些。监管框架涉及电网、生产侧以及零售部分。在电网方面,例如,引入更具动态性的电网费用将非常有价值。目前我们仍缺乏能够反映电网拥塞状况、可再生能源出力以及电网容量的动态输配电费结构。未来将会
有一个有趣的话题,如果你能展开说说:第二点是零售电价在多大程度上走向动态化,走向现货电价,也就是电价每15分钟变动一次。有些市场已经实现了,有些还没有。这将如何影响整体格局、又将如何扩展,我们看到,欧盟自2021年《清洁能源包》起,已明确要求动态电价必须推行。但到底是否需要做到每15分钟一变,
各国是否都会落地执行,还是我们仍处于推进实施的过程中?世界其他国家是否也会关注并效仿?这里举两个例子,第三个例子可能是双向充电,我们看到,对车辆电池的充放电存在电网费用或税收问题,而这往往是释放其价值的根本障碍。那么
还有没有其他你想重点强调的方面,或者你能就我提到的这些做些评论?当然,我很乐意。关于第一点:过去电网是按照负荷来建设的,而非根据电网使用时间来收费,在很多地方这一情况至今仍然如此。这意味着资产所有者,实际上这就是
建设资产的激励所在,也就是扩大资产规模,最终,监管往往提供的激励是去铺一块"铜板"。但我们知道,需求侧是有灵活性可以利用的,如果没有激励,我们也许就不会去利用它,而如果我们都在傍晚下班回家后同时给汽车充电,那就意味着没有人愿意为建设这些电网买单。
最终我们根本负担不起。这就是为什么我们必须考虑灵活性。最初,灵活性是通过批发市场价格引入的,因为我们知道太阳晚上不会发光,这是显而易见的。风能也是波动的,这些都需要体现在电价中,以引导需求跟随负荷调整。但由于能源行业,我认为,过去一直对其原有的收入来源
和"摇钱树"相当满足,加之监管层面缺乏创新动力,这就是为什么欧盟建立了相应框架,并规定,通过这一义务要求,必须提供基于批发市场价格的动态电价,而批发市场价格越来越多地由可再生能源驱动。因此,现在欧洲范围内都有了这一机制,这是好事,但那只是在发电侧。电网方面仍在讨论中,或者说正在推进中。其中一些
欧洲各国已经实行了这种定价机制,或者说大多数国家已经实行了:22个成员国中约有20个已经推行了随时间变化的网络费用。德国今年刚刚对部分用户引入了这一机制,确实如此,而且并非强制性的。所以我们在这方面有些落后,然后我们在德国又面临这样的讨论:如果无法计量、无法测量、无法收费,该如何应对这个系统。希望我们能加快步伐。当然,我们需要智能电表,
以及数字化。我认为我们可以向其他国家学习很多。那么,那些不如英国或其他自由化市场先进的国家,是否在做出调整?全球范围内是否存在监管环境趋于一致的趋势,比如发展中国家?如果从全球来看,我觉得可能存在这样的趋势,但并不那么明显。先从欧盟层面来说,我认为
答案是肯定的。我们可以看到,欧盟层面出台了很多指导方针和法规,但比如网络监管或电价设计方法,这些都由各成员国自行决定。幸运的是,德国现在已将这一职能移交给了BNetzA,即监管机构,而之前只由政府负责,这是向前迈出的一步。而现在我们发现,欧洲因传统不同仍然存在巨大差异:有些国家的做法或者
他们给出的理由,其他国家甚至从未解释过,诸如此类。我们需要更多的协调统一。我们有一个相互联动的批发市场,而且我认为在大多数地方运作良好,但欧洲各地的零售市场差异巨大,这正是企业面临困难的原因。因为你在英国建立了业务,然后进入德国市场,却不知道这里是怎么运作的:我需要了解什么才能开展业务?哪里
有盈利空间?怎样才能从中学习?英国是一个例子,但即便从丹麦到法国也存在巨大差异,这正是欧盟委员会现在推动协调统一的原因。例如,他们预计本月会发布相关指导方针,我想他们已经承诺过,关于网络电价的指导方针。很有意思。是的,SMARD也有很好的概览,我认为他们在不同国家网络电价监管框架方面也有很好的
概览。是的,确实如此。还有一点补充:这并不是欧盟委员会的官方指导方针,目前只是一项建议,但他们公开表示:如果没有人理会这个建议,我们可能会进一步考虑。有道理。说到电网电价,对于电动汽车来说,是否也存在充电容量不够高的障碍?在
不同站点,以及接入电网所涉及的高额电网费用。您认为这种情况会改变吗?从监管角度来看,是否有相关举措正在推进?您认为,让更多企业转向电动车辆、同时避免支付这些巨额电网扩容费用,最佳路径是什么?是的,在这方面德国走在前列。德国有大量研究
分析了如果要实现能源转型目标,电网投资方面可能面临的挑战。研究显示,未来20年仅在电网方面就需要投入约7000亿欧元。我认为这个数字太高了。但问题在于:这些数字从何而来?我认为完全有机会将实际投入压缩到远低于这个水平。但我们必须思考
如何更智慧地利用现有资源。例如,有些地方已经出台了相关法规,将电网利用率纳入对运营商的激励机制。我认为这是一个很好的做法,电网运营商可以说,在投资新变电站之前,也许可以通过激励用户避开用电高峰来规避投资。通过这种方式,
我们或许可以大幅削减这些预测中的投资需求。您也提到了电网费用的动态化趋势,德国的§14a EnWG正在推进这一方向,这主要适用于低压层面,而非中压。德国还有所谓的"atypische Netznutzung"(非典型电网使用)以及StromNEV §19。中压层面是否也会迎来大量变革?我们谈的是车队,越来越多的电动卡车也将从这些激励政策中受益。
是的,肯定会。关于您之前提到的系统接入成本问题,比如德国的Baukostenzuschuss(建设成本分摊),我认为这些都源自旧有体系,即向用户收取接入费用。但在我看来,这并不是核心问题;关键在于我们如何使用这个系统。
我们应该按照实际接入成本为所有希望接入的用户提供接入,但其他费用应基于对系统的使用方式来收取。如果我想在用电高峰期使用系统,当然应该为此付费。最终,如果你能避免欧洲或德国冬季傍晚时段通常出现的用电需求,你就能真正获得价值。而
在阳光充足的正午使用电网成本很低,我们不应该在那个时段向用电需求收取高额费用来加以限制。有道理。所以您也是在指这样一种费用结构,它根据您产生的峰值用电来收费,但并不区分时间段,不管您在哪个时间产生峰值都无差别。但我们应该关注峰值是在什么时间产生的:
如果当时电网并不拥堵,那问题不大;但如果正值拥堵,问题就严重多了,对吧?对。关键在于,监管机制应该提前提供相应的激励信号。这就是为什么我们需要提前定价,如果等到第二天才告诉用户,昨天充电因为赶上用电高峰,花掉了他们全年的度假预算,这对用户毫无帮助。他们应该提前获得某种激励或者
提示,以便提前做出调整。这才是我们真正需要的。未来的电力系统主要由天气条件驱动,风能、太阳能和气温,当然也受我们的行为影响,比如是节假日还是工作日,这些因素同样重要,而且都可以提前24小时预知。正是这样。我看到你和RAP联合发布了几份很有意思的案例研究,一份叫做《欧洲电动汽车和卡车smart charging的节省效益》,以法国为案例,另一份是《释放灵活性:消除demand response壁垒的无悔行动》,面向欧洲各国监管机构NRA。我记得你还参加了一场双向充电活动,在那里见到了Habeck,那是一段时间前的事了。在这所有工作中,有哪些亮点是你想和听众分享的?你有什么感悟?我觉得最大的亮点是:我们
正走在正确的轨道上。听到例如Habeck已经意识到这不仅仅是充电,而是双向充电,这是一个巨大的机遇,我们应该为此铺上红地毯,这让人感到振奋。虽然目前还没有完全实现,至少并非所有地方都做到了,但我仍然看到我们在向前推进。我们谈论双向充电已经有相当长一段时间了,所以也许
像你所看到的那次与Habeck的会面,一位非常有影响力的政治人物,至少是身处要职的人,将这个议题列为重要日程,是很有意义的。但我们仍然没有看到进展像我们期望的那样快。你怎么看待为什么这需要这么长时间?我认为我们仍然被旧有思维所束缚,电网运营商也好,
公用事业公司也好,他们的经营模式和收入来源都是这样建立起来的,而这在一定程度上也是由监管机制驱动的。所以他们首先关注的是受其监管的对象,而没有考虑未来的系统可以是什么样的、应该是什么样的,以及我们如何实现最低成本。这种前瞻性思维并不总是存在的。回到双向充电这个话题,它确实非常复杂,因为我们在整个系统中承担着相应的责任。
我们不希望遭遇停电,就像最近西班牙和葡萄牙发生的那样。因此,我们需要对接入系统的所有这些小型资产负责,让它们汇聚成规模,发挥出有益于所有人的价值。但我们至少需要部分掌握你什么时候给车充电的信息。为此我们需要相应的IT架构,需要协调机制,需要信息共享和透明度,所有这些都缺一不可。我认为目前,当
我们不想经历停电,就像最近西班牙和葡萄牙发生的那样。因此,我们需要对系统中所有这些接入的微小资产负责,将它们整合成规模庞大、对所有人都有价值有益的整体。但我们至少需要在一定程度上掌握你什么时候给车充电的信息。我们需要相应的IT架构,需要协调机制,需要信息共享和透明度,所有这些都是必不可少的。我认为现在仍然,当
我开始工作时也是如此,放眼海外是有帮助的。这在能源行业如此,对我们的整个生活也是如此,看看自己习以为常的事物之外,总是有益的。是的,这让我想起了我喜欢用的一个概念。有"软件定义汽车"这个说法,我认为能源领域也是"软件定义能源"。正如你在开头也提到的,软件世界在过去并没有像今天这样深度融入能源系统的运作方式,这要求传统参与者采用全新的运营方式。比如,电网运营商在想:好,电动汽车有巨大的潜力,这些电池储能我们可以用来平衡系统。他们的想法是:我想调度这些资源,让我的系统成本更低,但他们没有去问消费者。我不是说我们
必须先问消费者,但我们必须制定合理的价格机制。如果我们说,好,现在成本很高,那么市场上就会出现供应商、聚合商、零售商,他们会向消费者提供产品,他们必须说服消费者接受这些产品。然后他们就能帮助系统、帮助电网运营商找到最低成本的解决方案。但这样一来,主动权就在消费者
和市场手中了。所以有时候,当价格机制到位时,市场的表现还是让我感到惊喜,这很好。当有人问我这会是什么样子时,我说:我手机上有各种app,我不知道它们是怎么运作的,但如果它们能告诉我正确的信息,我就可以做出决定,或者调整设置让它们自动做出正确的事,而不需要我每5分钟看一次手机。这就是我们所需要的,
而且我不需要自己来搭建这一切。我唯一知道的是,我们必须把价格定对。如果我们给出错误的价格激励,人们就不会做出最优的选择。是的,换句话说,我们需要电网运营商和能源公司制定合理的价格结构,然后让市场完成其余的事,没错,从我的角度来看就是这样。但德国
有将近900家配电网运营商。我不会说他们已经真正实现数字化了。他们还没有部署智能电表,你要跟他们谈电网的时变电价,他们会说:哦哇,这听起来很高端。那动态电价呢?天哪。
所以这方面我们可以加快步伐。是的,我同意。那么对于电动车队来说,因为这也涉及很多电动车队和smart charging,你预见在未来几年车队电动化会面临哪些挑战?你建议用什么方式来应对这些挑战?首先,我认为车队比私家车在私人住宅中的场景要容易得多。车队容易得多,因为你知道
我从事这份工作时也是如此,放眼海外是很有帮助的。这不仅适用于能源行业,对我们整个生活都适用,看看自己习以为常的事物之外的东西,总是有益的。是的,这让我想起了我喜欢用的一个概念。有"软件定义汽车"这个说法,我认为能源领域也是"软件定义能源"。正如你在开头也提到的,软件世界在过去并没有像今天这样深度融入能源系统的运作方式,这要求传统参与者采用全新的运营模式。比如,电网运营商在想:好,电动汽车有巨大潜力,这些电池储能可以用来平衡系统。他们的想法是:我想调度这些资源,让我的系统成本更低,但他们没有去问消费者。我不是说我们
通常,他们在何时何地驾驶是有规律可循的。你有一些固定的充电地点,可以先对充电基础设施进行优化调整,再结合批发或零售市场以及电网进行价格优化。因此,这里存在巨大的潜力,而且双向充电在这里也更容易起步。电网接入系统的连接通常是灵活性投资中成本最高的部分,这也是为什么很多人
对安装更大容量的系统连接犹豫不决。但我的观点是:尽量把容量做大,同时配套制定合理的运营价格。在此基础上,车队的双向充电是第一步,之后再逐步推广到私人家庭,或者说公寓楼和路边停车充电场景。有道理。那么,你在不同类型的车队之间是否有所区分,觉得某些类型的车队
潜力更大?我认为这取决于规模经济。规模越大,越容易起步。如果你运营的是DHL这样体量的企业,那当然和我家附近那种只有3辆车的小型配送业务完全不同。这也和你拥有多少场站充电能力密切相关。如果你能至少部分依赖夜间充电,
那么你的灵活性就比那些长途运营、依赖快充的车队要强得多。我们看到,一辆卡车在高速公路上全速行驶四五个小时后再用35分钟快速补电,这种充电方式成本更高,而且灵活性很低。但两者结合起来,才是企业真正受益的所在。
有道理。说到当下,电动卡车是一个非常热门的话题,它们发展越来越快,势头强劲,尽管过去几年起步时份额还很小,但现在真的在快速提速。我认为到2030年,欧洲新售卡车中有三分之一将是电动卡车,这是目标。你对电动卡车未来面临的挑战和机遇有什么看法?
电动卡车?我认为这一领域的发展会比私家车市场更顺畅。我们在私家车领域看到了太多的起伏波折,但卡车是纯商业用途,所以关键在于TCO,也就是总拥有成本。这也是我们从制造商那里听到的声音:卡车会有的,会被卖出去,会被使用,没有人愿意因为缺少充电设施,让科隆的草莓
没法配送到慕尼黑。这是我们可以预见的未来走向。但另一方面,我们也看到,按照过去几十年的老路子建设电网连接,一个需要接入高压线路的快充站,建设周期几乎长达十年。而汽车或卡车制造商的速度要快得多。是的,所以高
压线路的建设需要加速推进,才能承载所有这些新增容量,对吧?对,没错。而且市场即便在基础设施有限、存在拥塞的情况下也能运转,但关键是要建立正确的激励机制:让人们把充电基础设施建在合适的地方,在容量充足或电价低廉的时候使用电力。总之,就是充分利用现有资源,避免不必要或可以规避的投资。有道理。
你还有什么想对播客听众说的,有没有什么重要的观点,是你觉得在我们今天触及的这些广泛话题中特别值得关注的?我想说的是:积极参与这个系统,因为它和过去不同了,过去消费者只是被动用电,现在消费者可以主动行动。不管是从阳台光伏板开始,还是用你的车、热泵、储能电池,随便什么方式。我认为
这首先带来的是更强的独立性和系统韧性,对有些人来说可能纯粹是兴趣爱好,不管是哪种动机,都值得去尝试。很好,确实如此,所谓"产消者",也是一个常见说法,和过去相比,它可以发挥更大的作用,过去这个角色可能相当单调。挑战有,机遇也很多。确实。最后,人们如何能进一步了解你或你的工作,或者有问题时如何联系你?当然,我在社交
媒体上都有,比如LinkedIn或Bluesky,可以在那里找到我,或者访问raponline.org,上面有我们在全球和本地所做工作的所有信息,包括行业侧、脱碳,以及供热等方面,它们也各有各的挑战。非常好。感谢Andreas,祝你今天余下的时间也愉快。谢谢,很高兴来到这里。今天这期节目邀请到了来自RAP(即监管援助项目)的Andreas Jahn,非常精彩。我的几点主要收获是:
不同市场和地区之间存在若干差异。我们看到有自由化市场和非自由化市场,英国走在最前沿,美国是混合体系,欧盟相对统一协调,但各市场的监管质量参差不齐。电网费用是一个非常重要的议题,其结构方式,或者说税费和电网费的结构方式,正在阻碍双向充电的发展。传统市场参与者普遍缺乏软件能力,难以支撑这类商业模式的落地。我们还看到
世界正在变得越来越协调统一,变化速度也越来越快,要知道,25年前欧洲几乎没有自由化电力市场,而市场自由化带来的成本优势推动了这一转变。"灵活性"这个关键词在很大程度上也受到监管的塑造,这也正是RAP从创立之初的核心目标:通过完善的监管框架,确保能源转型以具有成本效益的方式推进。而他们在全球范围内推动这一工作,令人着迷,因为他们
他可能是为数不多的几个对监管框架有如此深刻理解、并致力于在不同市场间分享最佳实践的机构之一。他还将车队定性为一种可规划的灵活性资源,既可用于单向smart charging,也可用于双向充电。他最后的建议是:无论作为prosumer还是主动参与者,都应积极投身其中,努力改善这个系统。感谢您的收听,请为我们留下评价,关注我们,给我们五星好评,那就太棒了,
也请把这期节目分享给可能感兴趣的朋友。我们下期再见。
Welcome to the Smart Charge by RiDERgy podcast. This is Claudio Geyken, founder and CEO of RiDERgy. This is your show to learn about all things energy management and smart charging innovation for electric vehicles and fleets.
Welcome to a new episode of Smart Charge. Today we're joined by Andreas Jahn, senior associate at the Regulatory Assistance Project, RAP, one of Europe's leading experts when it comes to smart energy regulation and power market reform and grids. He has over 20 years of experience, joining Lichtblick, one of the first utilities in Germany, then the government, the ministries and associations, and then with RAP, being responsible for several topics internationally. He takes us behind the curtain of energy policy. Why does flexibility often remain untapped?
How do outdated network tariffs and regulatory frameworks stand in the way of innovation? And what needs to change so that demand-side flexibility, storage, and smart EV and fleet charging can truly scale? We also take a look at international best practices, Germany's regulatory bottlenecks, and what a truly future-proof electricity system could look like. Let's dive in.
All right, Andreas, nice to have you today. How are you doing? Great to be here. I'm doing well and looking forward to that podcast. Awesome. Before we start talking about geeky energy systems topics and regulations, can you introduce yourself for the listeners, so that they know who Andreas Jahn is? Sure. I've been in the energy business for more than 20 years now. I started with an energy
retailer and ended up with regulatory authorities - with the ministry in Germany for a while, with associations, and now with the Regulatory Assistance Project. All of that happened because the framework wasn't properly set by then and developed over time, and human resources were required to address that. That's why I'm now with RAP - to improve the framework, because there are benefits across the world
to improving it, and in the end it benefits consumers, and supply can contribute to the system and to a clean future in this regard. Makes sense. One step back - how did you get into the energy sector? What drew you to it? Actually, it was the liberalized market. There were plenty of jobs on offer and I didn't know exactly what to do with
my studies once I finished, so I said let's try the energy business - and I'm still here. It was clearly a good market opening. So we're talking around 2000? Yes, around 2000. Because 1997 was when the EU decision for liberalization was made, but then maybe you can elaborate a bit on how long
it took for that to arrive in Germany, or at which point you entered and what the situation was here. Right. It was indeed a process. The energy markets we have today were actually driven mostly by the UK, because they liberalized first and their industry got cheaper electricity prices. The German industry was keen on that and said, well, we want
competitive markets too, to get prices down. There was pressure from industry, and with that - while the UK was still part of the EU - they developed mostly in Brussels the internal energy market for Europe, with all the guidelines and regulations we have in place now. That was indeed in the last millennium. But initially, in Germany, it was a bit different.
There was no authority appointed to regulate the energy market. It was driven by agreements among participants, among network associations and industry associations, and that was quite weak. There wasn't really any ex-ante regulation - it was only ex-post, meaning you could go to court if you didn't agree with what they had figured out or what the contract situation was by then. And it didn't work out
well for a couple of years. Then the majority at EU level decided: no, we need stricter regulation, we need an authority setting the framework ex-ante. That framework covers third-party access to the network, and also the costs - the regulation of network fees and the methodology behind them. Around 2001 or 2002, the regulator - until then it had only been the
Telecommunications and Railway Authority - was appointed to become the energy regulator as well, and with that they became responsible for the gas and electricity grids. That is the Federal Network Agency, or Bundesnetzagentur in German. Right. And so your first job was at a new electric utility - which one was it? It was Lichtblick. When I started there it was like
jumping into unknown waters, but after just a few weeks I was ahead of all the established network and energy utilities, because we wanted to get access and they had never provided access to any other supplier. That was a great learning experience. After a while I said, OK, I can do this, and then I got the opportunity to come to Berlin with
The Ministry of Economics, which had been operating by then - it has been called a task force for third-party access because there wasn't a regulatory authority, and that's why I'm in Berlin still. That was the time, as I said, when the BNetzA has been appointed. And for how long did you work at the ministry then? Oh yeah, that was only a year, but that was much more learning as well, because it was highly political. At the end, this
task force has been quit because - well, political issues, let's say. We've been kicked out, so it wasn't just me. There have been 5 or 6 from the industry helping the ministry with that, and there have been investigations on that later - even if that has been lobbying, etc. and all that. So I would say it was in between. It was because Germany wasn't really driving that forward to have an authority. Yeah, let's say Germany
is sometimes keen about the benefits but not that keen about really establishing the framework to achieve them. And that was probably the 2 or 3 year time period that has been required. And what were the other key responsibilities you had before your current one with RAP? Well, I've been with associations and retailers, and then it became more to be on the regulatory side, because there have always been issues on the access and on the regulation of the tariffs
and what came with all of that. That has been with retailers and with the associations on the regulatory side - talking with the ministry, with the regulator, in public as well. OK, so you drove that forward. You saw the topic of regulations both from a ministry, then from an association, and then now as an NGO, one could say - so you have different viewpoints on
the topic of regulations, right? Yes, indeed, and actually that was the initial point when I've been thinking about - well, we can only achieve an efficient transformation of the system if the framework is set right, if the incentives for the economy are there, and that wasn't the case back then. And that was when I met my today's colleagues. They said, yeah, of course we know that every regulation sets incentives. The other question is if
these are the incentives you're after. OK, then we'll dive into that question in a second. Before doing that, maybe you can give some background on RAP - the history behind it, the mission, and your concrete responsibilities? Sure, thanks. RAP has been founded already 30 years ago, I think, in the US. That was even before the markets in the US had been liberalized. In the US it's a bit different in
that way that the regulators are appointed or elected for a period of time only. And when the time ends, the knowledge is gone with the person. That's why two regulators had been thinking about how to keep the knowledge in the system, in the market. That's when they found some other people to finance that, and that's when RAP became a project - and that's what we are still named for. We are operating in a bit different way
globally. In the US it's more that they are former commissioners working, while in Europe, for example, there is more varied experience in our team as well, and even cross-sectoral - not all from the power system and not all from the regulatory perspective. It is as well from a transport perspective, from a heat perspective, and from industry, which we added to the team, because it's all on the electrification side. So that is
why Europe is a bit different. We are working in India and China as well, but those systems are much further away - at least from the European system - and within our organization, unfortunately too. OK, and how can one imagine the role of such an organization? What do you aim to achieve? What are the main goals and reasons to exist, so to say? Well, actually I would say to make
myself useless. The idea is of course to decarbonize the system at the lowest cost. That means to electrify, setting the right incentives so that all folks are running in the same direction. Unfortunately we are not doing that yet. So that is what we are financed for - by foundations mostly, sometimes by contracts from authorities, but not from the private sector, though of course we are engaging with the private
sector, with other NGOs, and helping to make things public in one jurisdiction. What we found out is that energy markets and even regulation are very fragmented across the world, and that it is very helpful to have examples from elsewhere - how things work - and to explain what we can do and what has been proven elsewhere. In the German context, I would say Germany is running 10 studies before they are changing
a dot in a sentence, while others are just running pilot projects and figuring things out - and that's why it is a cross-fertilization of that. Makes sense. So you try to spread these different best practices across the world as well, in the regions you named and operate in especially. Yes, and actually this is what I like to do - to learn and to think about how this can be adapted to other jurisdictions. That is actually great. And let's dive
into some examples, or topics of regulations that you think are key in this new world to enable electrification and decarbonisation. Maybe you can give some examples that come to mind. Sure, so yeah, I think the first is that we know that decarbonization works through electrification. This is probably one of the biggest achievements over the last decade, because that wasn't clear when I started in that field. So that is definitely
good, but how to achieve that at lowest cost - that is, I would say, unclear. And, for example, still - and then we're diving much more into the details - we need grids to serve the customers for all the needs they have. That is at least how the energy system has been built over the last century: to serve the load, so we need flexible supply. But that has changed. With the electrification, with the
decreasing cost of supply, mostly of PV and of wind, and now of storage and batteries as well, that is a huge chance to change the system. If we continue in the old fashion, it is probably not that beneficial. So, as we all know, we have flexibility, but we are not yet using that flexibility in the best manner. Mhm. So what are the hurdles for unleashing flexibility, and what regulatory best practices have you identified? The thinking, actually, we are not there
yet. I explored that a couple of times - quite a lot of people with responsibility for operations, or even policies on regulation, still have in mind there is a need and we have to serve that need from a central perspective. But the system of the future is so different. It is much more decentralized, it is flexible and bidirectional, and we can help each other with that - but neither the practice nor the framework is there yet. It has to be developed; partially it
is, in some jurisdictions, but it has to be combined for local needs in the first instance. On the other hand, that is why electricity is so special: we have a huge benefit by sharing across huge regions. For heat, for example, we don't supply a load pocket 1,000 miles away, but with electricity that might make sense to some extent. To some extent it is good to have local assets and
flexibility as well, and that is the difficulty of the system - it has more dimensions than the old system and other systems too. Maybe one step back: there are different regulatory systems across the world. Can we create pockets? There are liberalized markets and non-liberalized markets. Is that a good way to look at the different energy regulatory environments across countries in the world? Yes, definitely, that is a very good question, thanks for that. So, yeah, and
to start with that - Europe, for example, has huge differences, but it is still very homogeneous. The US, for example, is very different in this regard: they have liberalized markets, but they have fully regulated markets as well. And with that we can learn from each other. China, of course, is totally regulated - there is more or less no competition at all. Looking at energy markets globally, I would say there are three steps. In the first, you can
liberalize the supply side and set up third-party access by independent power producers - that is usually the first step. Then as the second step you can set up competitive wholesale markets, and the third - the top of the ice cream - is the competitive retail market. We do have that in Europe. But if you're coming from a totally regulated market, you shouldn't look straight up at that in the first
instance. It has its issues, but these are the three steps, and for each of them you need a different kind of regulatory framework. Is it fair to say that the UK is among the most advanced systems in terms of a regulatory framework that is very favorable to the new energy world? Yeah, at least in Europe, in some regards - and actually, that's why it's a
pity that the UK left the EU. They had been driving that development in Europe. Now, well, they're still in Europe geographically but no longer part of the regulatory and policy-making machine. But yeah, for example, in Europe the UK was the first state to establish incentive-based regulation for network operators. It's the 2nd or 3rd edition they have established now, setting detailed
incentives for what the network operators should do. That is definitely helpful - not just having a framework that provides incentives you ultimately don't act on. But there are other places as well that have done things well in Europe, and of course elsewhere in the world too. Right, let's get a bit more into the details. Just to name a few of the dimensions that I'm aware of that I would love to have you comment on or
perhaps add to. There are the grids, there is the production side, and there is the retail part in the regulatory frameworks. In the grids part, for example, having more dynamic grid fees would be very fruitful. We still have a lack of dynamic tariffs in the grid fee structure that reflect congestion availability in the grids or the availability of renewables - and therefore the capacity of those grids. There will be
One interesting topic, if you can elaborate: then the second is to what extent the retail tariffs are going dynamic, going to the spot tariffs where you have 15-minute changes of electricity tariffs. Some markets have them, some don't. So how that impacts things and how it will spread - we see that the EU has, with the Clean Energy Package since 2021, mandated that dynamic tariffs need to come. To what extent do they have to be every 15 minutes,
and will everybody implement them, or are we still in the process of implementing them? And will other countries in the world take notice as well and copy that? So just to give two examples, and then a third one maybe is bidirectional charging, where we see that there are grid fees or taxes involved with charging and discharging a battery in a vehicle, and oftentimes this is a fundamental hurdle for that value to be unleashed. So
are there others that you would highlight, or would you comment on the ones I mentioned? Yeah, sure, I'd definitely like to. So on the first one: the networks in the past had been built for the load and not charged based on the time when the network has been used, and that is in quite a lot of places still the truth. What that means is that the asset owners - and actually that is the incentive
to build assets, so to extend their asset base - at the end, what regulation quite often provides is building a copper plate. But we know that with the flexibility we do have on the demand side, which we can use - or if we are not incentivized, maybe we are not using - and if we are all plugging in our car in the evening when returning back home from work, that means building these networks is something no one is up for.
We can't afford it in the end. That is why we have to think about flexibility. And initially, flexibility came into play through wholesale market prices, because we know the sun is not shining at night, obviously. Wind is fluctuating as well, and that needs to be reflected in tariffs to adjust demand to the load. But since the energy industry, I would say, had been quite comfortable with their former revenue streams
and their cash cows, and with regulation there was not much innovation - that is why the EU set up the framework and said with this obligation you have to offer a dynamic tariff based on the wholesale market price, which is driven more by renewables. So it is good that we now have that across Europe, but that is only on the generation side. The networks are still in discussion, or in the making, let's say. Some of the
European countries do have that pricing already - or let's say it is a majority: about 20 out of 22 member states have time-varying network fees in place. Germany just introduced this year for some customers - indeed - and it is not mandatory. So we are a bit behind, and then we have the discussion in Germany about how you can deal with the system if you can't meter, if you can't measure, if you can't charge. Well, hopefully we are speeding up. Of course we need smart meters,
digitalization. I would say we can learn a lot from others. And are the countries that are not as advanced as others - like the UK or other liberalized markets - adjusting? Is there a trend for the world to harmonize regulatory environments, say developing countries for example? If it's globally, I would say there is maybe a trend, but it is not so obvious. Let's say on the EU level first, I would say
yes. We have seen, for example, that there are a lot of guidelines at the EU level and regulation, but for example the network regulation or the methodologies of tariff design are all with the member states. Luckily Germany moved that now to the BNetzA, to the regulator, whereas before it was with the government only - so that is a step forward. And now we are finding that Europe is still so diverse by tradition: what some countries did or what they
explained as their reasoning, others didn't even explain, or whatever. We need more harmonization. We have a wholesale market that is interacting and, I would say, in most places in a good way, but the retail markets across Europe are so different - and that is why businesses are struggling with it. Because you are established in the UK and then you step into the German market and wonder: how is that working? What do I have to know to establish a business? Where is
a revenue stream within that? How can I learn from that? That is the UK, but even from Denmark to France there are huge differences, and that is why the Commission is pushing for harmonization now. For example, they are expected to come out this month - I think they promised - with guidelines on network tariffs. Interesting. Yeah, there is also a good overview by SMARD, and I think they also have good
overviews on the regulatory frameworks of different countries regarding network tariffs. Yeah, indeed. And sorry - one thing: it is not an official guideline by the Commission, it is a suggestion first, but they said publicly: well, if no one is listening to this suggestion, we might think further. Makes sense. And talking about grid tariffs, is there also a hurdle for electric vehicles in particular in having high enough capacity to charge? At
different sites, and there are also huge grid fees related to connecting to the grid. Is that something that you see will change, or is there something in the making as well from a regulatory standpoint? What's your view on what should be the best way to enable more companies to move to electric vehicles without being forced to pay these massive amounts of grid reinforcement fees? Yes, and in this regard Germany is at the forefront. Germany has a lot of studies
about what we might face in grid investments if we want to fulfill our transitional targets, and we learned this might - or it should be - about €700 billion in the next 20 years that we have to invest in the networks only. And it's, I would say, too much. But the question is: where are these numbers coming from? And I would say there's a huge chance to deal with much less than that. But we have to think about
how we can be smarter and use what we have in a better way. For example, some places do have regulations in place where the utilization of the network is part of the incentive given to the operators. And I think this is a very good thing - that the network operator can say, yeah, before I'm investing into a new substation, maybe I can give an incentive to the users to avoid the peak hours and thereby avoid the investments. And by doing so,
we can probably cut a lot of these predicted investments. And you already mentioned the grid fees becoming more dynamic, coming in in Germany with the §14a EnWG - that's more for the very low voltage than for the medium voltage. There's also in Germany the so-called atypische Netznutzung, and the StromNEV §19. Is there going to be a lot of change related also to medium voltage? We're talking fleets - it's going to be more
and more electric trucks that will also have that incentive. Yeah, definitely. And to your previous question about the cost to build up the interconnection to the system - the Baukostenzuschuss, for example, which is what we have in Germany - I would say this is all still from the old system where we charge people to connect. But from my perspective, that is not the crucial issue; it is how we use the system.
We should connect everyone who wants to be connected at the cost of what the interconnection is, but everything else is for the use of the system. If I want to use the system at peak times, of course I have to be charged for that. And at the end, you get real value by doing so if you avoid the demand that is usually in Europe or in Germany in the winter evenings. Whereas it is
quite cheap to use a network at noon when the sun is shining, and we shouldn't penalize the demand by charging a lot at that moment in time. Makes sense. So you're referring as well to the fee structure that penalizes based on the peak you generate, but doesn't determine which time - it doesn't matter which time you generate the peak. But we should measure at which time the peak was generated:
if the network is not congested at that time, it's not a big problem, whereas if it was congested, it's a bigger problem, right? Right. And the point is regulation should provide the incentives ahead of time. That is why we need pricing ahead of time, and it's not helpful for the customers if we inform them the day after that the charging they did yesterday cost them their annual vacation because it was a peak time. They should get some kind of incentive or
information ahead of that to avoid it. And that's actually what we need. Since the future system is driven mostly by weather conditions - wind, sun, and temperatures - and of course by our behaviors, so whether it's a holiday or a weekday, that matters as well, and that is known 24 hours ahead. Exactly. I've seen you published a few interesting case studies with RAP. One is called "The Savings for Smart
Charging Electric Cars and Trucks in Europe," a case study for France, and another one is "Unlocking Flexibility: No-Regret Actions to Remove Barriers to Demand Response," addressed to NRAs - the regulators in Europe. And I think you also met Habeck at the bidirectional charging event, which was a while back. Out of all this work, are there a few highlights you would like to share with the audience? What are your takeaways? I would say the highlight is: we're
on the right track. And it is good to hear, for example, that Habeck has been aware that this is not just charging - it is bidirectional charging, which is a huge opportunity, and we should roll out the red carpet for that. It isn't there yet, at least not in all places, but I'm still seeing that we are moving forward. And we have been talking about bidirectional charging for quite some time, so perhaps
a meeting like the one you saw with Habeck - where a very powerful politician, at least someone in a powerful role, took that topic high up on his agenda - was significant. But still, we are not seeing progress as fast as we would like. What's your take on why it takes so long? I would say we are still locked into the old thinking, with the network operators, with
The utilities, how they have been established and what their revenue streams are - and that is even partially driven by regulation. So they are looking at the ones they are regulating first, and not having in mind how a future system could look like or should look like, and how we can achieve the lowest costs. So that is not always there yet. And to come back to that - the bidirectional charging - that is definitely complex, because we have responsibilities in the system.
We don't want to face a blackout, as it happened recently in Spain and Portugal. And therefore we need responsibility for all these tiny assets connected to the system, making it big and useful and beneficial to all. But we have to know when you charge your car, at least partially. And we need IT structures for that. We need coordination, we need information, transparency - all of that. And I think it is still - when
I started my job - the same: looking across borders is helpful. It is in the energy business, but it is for our entire life - it is helpful to see something else than the things you're used to. Yeah, that goes back to one of the concepts I like to use. There's software-defined vehicles, and I think the energy sector is also software-defined energy. And as you also highlighted in the beginning, the software world was
not ingrained in the way the energy system operated in the past as much as it is today, and this requires a completely new way of operating from traditional players. And it is when, let's say, network operators are thinking: well, there's a huge potential of the EVs, of all this battery storage we can use to balance the system. Their thinking is: I want to operate these resources to make my system cheaper, but they are not asking the customers. I wouldn't say that we
have to ask the customers first, but we have to put the right prices in place. So if we say, yeah, if it costs a lot right now, then there will be market providers, aggregators, suppliers - they will come up with offers to the customers, and they have to convince the customers on their products. And then they can help the system, the network operators, to come up with the cheapest solution. But with that, it is up to the customer
and to the market. So sometimes I'm still surprised by learning what markets are doing if they have the right prices - and that is great. When I've been asked how that could look like, I say: well, I have apps on my phone. I don't know how they work, but if they are telling me the right things, I can decide, or I can adjust them so that they are doing the right things, instead of looking every 5 minutes at my phone. And that's what we need
as well, and I don't have to set that up by myself. The only thing I know is we have to set the prices right. If we come up with the wrong price incentives, people will not do the best that they could do. Yeah, so in other words, we need the grid operators and the utilities to set a certain price structure and then let the market do the rest - exactly, that's the truth from my perspective. But Germany has
almost 900 distribution network operators in place. And I wouldn't say that they are really digitalized yet. They don't have smart meters implemented, and asking them about time-varying pricing of networks - they say: oh wow, that sounds fancy. How about dynamic pricing? Oh my God.
So we can speed up a bit on that end. Yeah, no, I agree. And then for the electric fleets - as this is also a lot about electric fleets and smart charging - is there any challenge you foresee in the upcoming years to electrify our fleets, and what would you suggest are ways to tackle those challenges? So first, I think fleets are much easier than a private car in a private household. Fleets are much easier because you know
usually when and where they're driving. You have certain points where you can charge, and you can adjust first the infrastructure for charging and then the price optimization with a wholesale or retail market and the networks. So there is a huge potential, and even there it is much easier to start with bidirectional charging. The grid connection to the system is usually the most cost-intensive investment for flexibility, and that's why quite a lot are
hesitating to install a bigger connection to the system. But I say I'm in favour of making it as big as possible, but putting the right prices for the operation in place. And with that, bidirectional charging of fleets is the initial step - and then eventually even with private households or, let's say, apartments and car charging on the streets. Makes sense. And do you distinguish between types of fleets where you see more
potential than other types of fleets? Well, I would say it's economies of scale. The biggest are easiest to start with. If you're operating a DHL or someone of that size, of course it's something else than having 3 cars for whatever kind of delivery in my neighbourhood. And it is connected to how much depot charging you have in place. If you can, at least partially, rely on nighttime charging,
that means you're more flexible than if you have a fleet that operates on long distances and relies on fast charging. So what we see is that it will be much more expensive to charge a truck after 4 or 5 hours of running full speed on a highway and then recharge in another 35 minutes - that is more expensive and doesn't have a lot of flexibility. But the combination of both - that is where the benefits even for businesses
Makes sense. And for nowadays, a big hot topic is electric trucks that are coming more and more and growing very fast, even though they started with a very small share in the last few years. But they're really picking up momentum. I think the goal is in 2030 to have a third of newly sold trucks be electric in Europe. Do you have any views on the challenges ahead, or the opportunities as well, for
electric trucks? Yeah, I think the development will be more straightforward than the private car sector. We have seen so many ups and downs with it, but trucks - that is a commercial business, so it depends on the TCO, the total cost of ownership. And that's what we heard from the manufacturers. The trucks will be there, they will be sold to the market, they will be used, and no one is up for their strawberries ending up in Cologne because of lack
of charging and can't be delivered to Munich, for example. So that is what we can predict for the future. But what we can see on the other hand is that the network connection, as we've done it for the last decades, requires almost a decade to implement a fast charging point that has to be connected to the high-voltage level. And I would say the car manufacturers or truck manufacturers are a bit faster. Yeah, so the high-
voltage lines need to be sped up to be able to cope with all that capacity, right? Right, right. And the markets can deal even with limited infrastructures and congestion, but it is so important to have these incentives in place so that they are building at the right spot, that they're using capacity when it's available or when it's cheap. And yeah, making the most of what we do have, to avoid unnecessary or avoidable investments. Makes sense. Is
there any other last message you would like to leave here in the podcast for the listeners - that you feel is important to consider across the wide array of topics that we touched? Well, I think: participate in the system, because it is different from the past when the consumer had to be supplied. Now the consumer can act - if it starts with a balcony solar panel, with your car, with a heat pump, with a battery, whatever. I think
it is, first and foremost, more independency, resilience to the system - to some it might just be fun, whatever it is. Check it out. Yeah, nice. Definitely - the prosumer, as it's also called, can have a big role compared to the past where it was maybe boring. There are challenges but also great opportunities. Yeah. And finally, how can people learn more about you or about your work, or connect in case they have questions? Well, sure, I'm on social
media, for example on LinkedIn or Bluesky. You can find me there, or on raponline.org. There is all the information about what we are doing globally, locally, etc. - even on the industry side, on decarbonization, which has its own challenges as well, on the heat side, etc. Excellent. Thanks, Andreas, and wish you still a great day. Yeah, thanks a lot, pleasure to be here. And this was a great episode with Andreas Jahn from RAP, the Regulatory Assistance Project. My key takeaways are that there are
several differences between markets and regions. We see liberalized markets and unliberalized markets - the UK being at the forefront, the US having a mixed system, and the EU being quite harmonized, but some markets having more or less great regulatory aspects. We see grid fees being a very important issue and how their structure, or bidirectional charging, is being impeded by how taxes and grid fees are structured. There are traditional players that lack software skills to enable these types of business models. We see that
the world gets more and more harmonized, and it is also changing fast - considering that 25 years ago there were nearly no liberalized markets in Europe, and it changed due to the cost advantages that come from that. And that the keyword flexibility is also very much shaped by regulations - and that was the key objective of RAP from the get-go as well: to make sure that we have a cost-effective transition through great regulatory frameworks. And they do this globally, which is fascinating, as they
might be one of the very few organizations having such a deep understanding of regulatory frameworks and trying to share best practice across different markets. He also identified fleets as a plannable source of flexibility for both smart charging in one direction or bidirectional charging. And really his final take was to be engaged and try to improve the system as a prosumer or as an active participant. Thanks for tuning in - please leave a review, follow us, give us 5 stars, that would be great, and
share this with somebody who could enjoy listening to this episode. See you soon.
节目笔记
Regulation shapes the energy transition more than technology, and Andreas Jahn, Senior Associate at RAP, has the regulatory maps to prove it. The conversation opens with the EU's Fit for 55 package: why AFIR mandates 1.3 kW per EV at public chargers, how the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation forces member states to plan, and why smart charging flexibility is the cheapest grid asset nobody has procured yet. Claudio and Andreas trace the line from Brussels directive to German §14a implementation. From grid fee structures and market liberalization to the roadblocks facing bidirectional charging, Andreas explains how flexibility and cost-efficiency are often dictated by policy. We discuss key differences between the UK, US, and EU, the evolving role of fleets as flexible energy assets, and why regulatory harmonization is crucial for scaling smart charging worldwide. Whether you’re an energy professional or a curious prosumer, this episode offers insights on why rules matter - and how you can shape them.