According to experts, the failure at the European Epex Spot Stock Exchange resulted in no market coupling (Handelsblatt, 2024). For this reason, a separate auction was held on the day-ahead market in Germany, Austria, France and other European countries. This is similar to the situation that would occur if Germany had to supply itself completely with power and did not receive any energy imports from neighboring countries. As a result, the price rose to over 2000€ per megawatt hour during the usual peak times at 6 o'clock in the morning and 8 o'clock in the evening.
The case was heavily discussed by people interested in energy markets on social media such as LinkedIn. Some advocates of static electricity tariffs argued that end and large consumers with dynamic electricity tariffs would now feel the disadvantage of this system. An example of the effects was given by a steel plant from the Feralpi Group near Dresden, Germany. It had to stop production because otherwise it would have paid seven-figure energy costs. By contrast, the damage caused by the production shutdown was “only” in the six-figure range (Berliner Zeitung, 2024).
Our customers were protected thanks to flexOn's intelligent energy management. For customers connected to the spot market, flexOn registered the high energy prices at peak times through AI-based data analysis and managed power consumption accordingly. The picture shows, for example, the consumption of a customer with a cooling machine. In this case, it was used as an energy storage device: flexOn cooled it down significantly outside peak times so that consumption could be reduced during peak times. The limit parameters specified by the customer were met. In the period of 4-8 in the morning and 19-23 in the evening alone, this customer saved 1,070€ through intelligent energy management, which corresponds to a saving of 36.8%.
In the case of other customers with solar systems or energy storage systems, the intelligent energy management switched consumption to in-house production or storage, so that industrial companies purchased little power from the spot market at peak times.
This example clearly shows: Intelligent energy management with automated control is the right way for companies to become resilient and independent without having to invest large sums of money in storage. Even though the technical error was a special case, extreme price fluctuations are no longer a single case. Through automated, intelligent energy management, industrial companies benefit from price volatility and are protected during high-price phases.
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