Ostrom and be.storaged: First virtual power plant for electric cars

Green electricity provider Ostrom and battery and flexibility provider be.storaged have launched their first virtual power plant (VPP) in Germany. It utilizes the flexible charging processes of electric vehicles. The project, according to their own statements, the largest of its kind in Germany, leverages the flexibility of electric vehicles and other energy systems such as heat pumps and home battery storages to trade them on the intraday market. This is aimed at increasing energy efficiency, improving grid stability, and achieving significant cost savings for end customers.

Utilizing the Volatility of Renewable Energies as an Advantage

The expansion of renewable energies has led to increased volatility in the energy market, making the optimization of end customer consumption indispensable to ensure grid security in Germany and offer customers even more competitive electricity prices. Instead of viewing volatility as a risk, it can be seen as an opportunity to shift energy consumption to times of lower demand or higher supply when energy prices are more favorable.

Virtual power plants are an aggregation of decentralized energy resources such as electric vehicles, heat pumps, and home batteries, coordinated by a central system—in this case, Ostrom and be.storaged—to function as a unified power plant. This system optimizes energy generation, storage, and usage, improves grid stability and efficiency, while simultaneously lowering costs for consumers. As the energy mix in Germany already consists of 60% renewable sources in 2024 and is expected to rise to 80% by 2030, the demand for such intelligent energy management solutions is increasing significantly.

“It was a long journey from developing our Ostrom app to integrating all functions and supporting smart meters and dynamic tariffs. Now we can finally realize the enormous VPP potential in Germany,” says Matthias Martensen, co-founder and CEO of Ostrom.

Ostrom App Meets be.storaged Trading Platform

Through the Ostrom app, customers can set their preferred charging times and consumption amounts to participate in the VPP. This data, combined with the current charging amounts that can be shifted in time, is directly transmitted to Ostrom’s systems. The flexibility gained from the charging processes is then sent to be.storaged’s optimization algorithm, where it is aggregated. This aggregated flexibility potential is continuously traded on the intraday spot market. The resulting optimized charging plans for the participating vehicles are then sent to Ostrom to control the charging processes of the connected electric vehicles. Based on updated battery data and price data, this process is continuously repeated throughout the entire charging period.

“This is an extraordinarily exciting project that fully exploits the potential of the continuous intraday market, sets it apart from other smart charging platforms, and has a significant impact on customers' energy costs,” explains Dr. Fabian Knoch, Head of Platform Development and Flexibility Trading at be.storaged.