Use it or Lose it: German Economy Minister Robert Habeck visits Berlin pilot
for supplementary electric heating to curb wind energy curtailment by Vonovia
and decarbon1ze

EQS-News: Vonovia SE / Key word(s): Real Estate/Sustainability
Use it or Lose it: German Economy Minister Robert Habeck visits Berlin pilot
for supplementary electric heating to curb wind energy curtailment by
Vonovia and decarbon1ze (news with additional features)

15.07.2024 / 12:37 CET/CEST
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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https://eqs-cockpit.com/cgi-bin/fncls.ssp?fn=download2_file&code_str=fd23430c87423051d5c5191416dea9ce
Image title: Bundeswirtschaftsminister Robert Habeck besucht
Pilotinstallation für Stromwärme von Vonovia und decarbon1ze in Berlin_1

Use it or Lose it: German Economy Minister Robert Habeck visits Berlin pilot
for supplementary electric heating to curb wind energy curtailment by
Vonovia and decarbon1ze

  * New legal framework creates conditions for immediate reduction in
    emissions and costs when supplying heat to existing buildings

  * To avoid bottlenecks and curtailment in the power grid, supplementary
    electric immersion heaters have been placed inside water storage tanks
    of apartment buildings and are activated when required, utilising
    "surplus" renewable electricity and reducing gas consumption

* Flexible power consumption is balanced and billed individually

Berlin/Bochum, 15 July 2024. A newly introduced law creates favorable
conditions for immersion heaters in single and multi family homes to avoid
curtailment of renewable energy production. How does this power-to-heat
solution work? Today, Robert Habeck, Germany's Federal Minister for Economic
Affairs and Climate Protection, found out first-hand in Berlin, as he
visited an apartment building owned by Europe's largest housing company. By
installing electric immersion heaters in the hot water tanks of apartment
buildings, the housing company Vonovia is now contributing directly to the
decarbonisation of the heat supply of its building stock. Additional
flexible energy demand such as immersion heaters are activated when surplus
production of wind or solar power units would otherwise have to be
curtailed.

The Minister for Economics and Protection Robert Habeck, "The idea of
immersion heaters shows that more climate protection in the building stock
can also be achieved in small, cost-effective steps. Our legislation has
created a secure framework for this purpose with the instrument of "Using
instead of Curtailing". Using instead of curtailing means that surplus
renewable electricity is used sensibly and creates value in transformative
technologies instead of shutting down production. The instrument will start
its trial stage in October, and we are excited to see it in action. "

"These installations show that climate protection in existing buildings can
easily be achieved through small, cost-effective steps." said Habeck during
his visit.

The immersion heaters - each with its own metering and control unit - are
currently being piloted in Berlin by Vonovia and the clean energy start-up
decarbon1ze. Supplementary heaters are only used when a grid bottleneck is
likely, making it necessary to curtail wind or solar power. The new German
Act called "Use Instead of Curtailment" (Section 13k of the Energy Industry
Act of December 2023) now provides a reliable legal framework, with a
two-year trial period, due to start in October 2024. Transmission system
operators have defined so-called "relief regions" where flexible
supplementary demand can be activated. The resulting additional costs are
reimbursed, making it cost-effective to replace gas with green electricity.
By operating these direct electric heating systems, Vonovia and decarbon1ze
are looking to take an active role in the relief regions of northern
Germany.

"We're committed to a climate roadmap that should make our buildings
virtually climate-neutral by 2045. To achieve this goal, we're using a range
of practicable and innovative methods, and we're pleased that the new law is
giving us long-term security for the economic use of a good innovative
system in our buildings," says Rolf Buch, CEO of Vonovia SE. He describes
collaboration with decarbon1ze as a promising step towards decarbonising the
company's building stock.

Previously, in relief regions such as Schleswig-Holstein, grid fees per
kilowatt-hour of electricity alone would have cost more than a kilowatt-hour
of gas - even in cases where the electricity might otherwise have been
curtailed. Customers with immersion heaters now benefit directly from the
new conditions, building on low supply prices in the electricity trading
market and compensation for additional electricity costs such as grid fees.
For the first time, therefore, the price of electricity per kWh can compete
with gas. Immediate savings in emissions and energy costs for the relevant
buildings are the result. The potential savings could have major impact. In
2023, the curtailment of renewable energies amounted to approximately 10
TWh, primarily affecting windfarms in northern Germany. If supplementary
heaters were to be installed in about 1.7 million apartment buildings in
this region, flexible consumption could generate some 9.7 TWh.

To activate additional electric demand as required under the "Use Instead of
Curtailment" Act, decarbon1ze is installing metering and control modules in
this joint pilot project while also ensuring the required balancing and
documentation procedure. Knut Hechtfischer, CEO of decarbon1ze, says: "Our
technology enables us to customise the way we address and balance
supplementary electric heating. Immersion heaters are a cost-effective
starting point for decarbonising existing apartment buildings if electricity
is not more expensive than gas. It means that more people can take part in
the energy transition, and we can make progress with our building stock -
even in places where we can't install heat pumps just yet."

Stefan Kapferer, CEO of 50Hertz, says: "Moving to a flexible use of electric
power demand is an indispensable step in our transition to green energy.
Today, there are times when electricity production from wind and solar power
exceeds demand. ,The sharp rise in the expansion of renewables is creating
more and more of these surpluses. As a result, redispatch becomes expensive,
while prices in the electricity trading market drop substantially or even
turn negative. This means we need to accelerate our actions in grid
expansion, storage and more flexible power consumption."

Today, curtailment of renewable power generation mostly affects windfarms.
However, with the rapid expansion of solar installations, we'll soon have
situations at distribution grid level where a surplus of solar power will
require more flexible demand. On a sunny summer Sunday afternoon, an
immersion heater inside a hot water storage tank can provide grid operators
with the flexibility they need and supply warm water to households.

Dr Erik Landeck, CEO of the Berlin-based distribution system operator
Stromnetz Berlin, says: "Stromnetz Berlin supports the testing of technical
and energy management processes that need to take place in the "Use Instead
of Curtailment" scheme. Whenever there is a surplus of renewable energies,
the use of additional flexible loads is a good solution for the energy
system. However, controllable flexible loads are largely connected to the
distribution grid. While we acknowledge the positive impact on the system
overall, we must therefore also look at the capacity of the distribution
system. There would be no benefit if the simultaneous connection of
additional loads at times of peak usage, for example in the evenings,
resulted in grid overload. It's a matter of optimising the whole system. To
achieve this, distribution system operators are expanding their electricity
grids while also improving the continuous recording of grid levels - even at
low voltage levels. This way we'll be able to see what's coming and take
action accordingly."

Picture line: Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck visited an apartment
building owned by housing company Vonovia today to see for himself how the
installation of immersion heaters or direct electric heating systems in the
hot water tanks of apartment buildings can contribute to the decarbonisation
of heat supply in existing buildings. Stefan Ritter, Head of Energy at
Vonovia, explained the joint pilot by Vonovia and the energy transition
start-up decarbon1ze.

Copyright: Vonovia/decarbon1ze/Kathrin Heller

Further details, photographic material and video footage can be found in the
Media Library.

About Vonovia

Vonovia offers a home to around one million people in Germany. The
residential real estate company plays a central role in society, which is
why Vonovia's activities are never focused exclusively on financial aspects,
but also take social factors into account. Vonovia is helping to provide
answers to the current challenges on the housing market. The company is
committed to more climate protection, more senior-friendly apartments and a
positive community spirit in its neighborhoods. In cooperation with social
institutions and the municipal districts, Vonovia supports social and
cultural projects that enrich community life. Vonovia is also helping to
address a social issue that is particularly important at the moment: the
construction of new apartments.

Our activities focus on our customers and their needs. On site, caretakers
and our own craftsmen take care of our tenants' concerns. Being close to our
customers ensures fast and reliable service. In addition, Vonovia invests
generously in the maintenance of the buildings and develops housing-related
services for a better quality of living. For answers to any questions in
connection with lease agreements and ancillary expense bills, the central
customer service center can be contacted via a regional service hotline as
well as by fax, app or by post.

Vonovia has a workforce of approximately 12,000 employees and its CEO is
Rolf Buch.

About Stromnetz Berlin

As the owner of Berlin's electric power distribution grid and its associated
systems, Stromnetz Berlin GmbH ensures a secure and reliable power supply
throughout the German capital. Its grid supplies electricity to around 2.4
million households and businesses. Stromnetz Berlin GmbH provides the
required connections to electricity customers and grid access to power
suppliers. Around 12.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity flow through
Berlin's power grid every year. Stromnetz Berlin is owned by the State of
Berlin. www.stromnetz.berlin

About decarbon1ze

decarbon1ze is a Berlin start-up that develops and operates Germany's first
nationwide virtual balancing area. It facilitates the individual metering
and billing of flexible electricity consumers, including behind-the-meter
consumption. decarbon1ze aims to incentivise households and businesses to
provide flexibility-based systems that facilitate load shifting and the
storage of fluctuating renewable energy. To do so, decarbon1ze runs a
virtual balancing platform for the simple transaction-oriented management of
flexibilities even beyond the boundaries of the grid area. Info:
www.decarbon1ze.com


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Additional features:

File: https://eqs-cockpit.com/c/fncls.ssp?u=35f06187542f07819d7f469b26ffbfc1
File description: German Economy Minister Robert Habeck visits Berlin pilot
for supplementary electric heating to curb wind energy curtailment by
Vonovia and decarbon1ze

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   Language:       English
   Company:        Vonovia SE
                   Universitätsstraße 133
                   44803 Bochum
                   Germany
   Phone:          +49 234 314 1609
   Fax:            +49 234 314 2995
   E-mail:         investorrelations@vonovia.de
   Internet:       www.vonovia.de
   ISIN:           DE000A1ML7J1
   WKN:            A1ML7J
   Indices:        DAX
   Listed:         Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard);
                   Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf,
                   Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange
   EQS News ID:    1946343

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1946343 15.07.2024 CET/CEST