Frequently Asked Questions

Technical conformity under VDE-AR-N 4110 or 4105, a grid connection request with the responsible operator, registration in the Marktstammdatenregister and, as soon as end customers are supplied, notification under § 5 EnWG to the Bundesnetzagentur. I order the sequence, name the deadlines and guide the procedures through to productive operation.

For technology already certified in Europe, six to twelve months to the first grid connection is common. The bottleneck is rarely the hardware but the grid connection process and the coordination with the network operator. Without European pre-certification, conformity assessment is added.

A cluster pools many small units into a jointly marketed group. A single battery does not reach the minimum bid size of the balancing markets and can only run arbitrage. FCR, aFRR and mFRR each require 1 MW; in a cluster all three become reachable. Every owner keeps their unit; no pooled asset is created. The governing rule is Bundesnetzagentur decision BK6-21-042 of 28 April 2022; the previous 5 MW for aFRR and mFRR and the associated single-bid exception ceased to apply with it.

No. I am a consultant, not a marketer and not a trader. I design the structure, provide contract templates and the escrow arrangement, set out the minimum bid sizes per market and support the choice of marketer. Marketing itself is done by a direct marketer or VPP operator.

In practice from ten units. Below that, contract effort and escrow structure eat up the revenue advantage. The upper limit is organisational rather than technical; ten to one hundred units is typical.

Prequalification with the transmission system operator, minimum bid sizes per balancing product, proof of controllability and a marketing contract that clearly settles revenue split and availability obligations. I support build-up and operation on the regulatory and commercial side without marketing myself.

Total costs typically run between EUR 85,000 and 250,000, depending on scope, IT infrastructure and the chosen balancing group model. The largest single item is usually market communication, followed by staff for balancing group management and billing.

The process covers thirteen regulatory phases and typically takes sixteen to twenty-four weeks: company formation, notification under §§ 5, 6 EnWG, balancing group contract with the transmission system operator, GPKE and MaBiS certification, market partner identification and go-live with the first end customers.

GPKE governs the business processes for customer supply, MaBiS the market rules for balancing group settlement. Both are binding determinations by the Bundesnetzagentur. Without market communication working to these rules, no supplier switch and no billing is possible.

For international storage manufacturers entering Germany, for operators and investors pooling units into clusters, and for VPP operators. Plus utility formations, where my own six make the difference.

A first call of thirty minutes, free and without obligation. Then a written assessment with effort, sequence and open points. Only then is it decided whether and to what extent a mandate comes about. Billing is fixed price or time and material.

Yes. I work from Málaga for the German market, consulting in German, English and Spanish. For Spanish projects there is a dedicated page on Spanish energy law.

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