§14a EnWG (Germany) - Any plans from Victron?

Q&A and troubleshooting EVCS
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Hey Victron,

in the old forums there have already been some posts about the §14a EnWG which is enforced since 01.01.2024 in Germany.

Existing Systems have a “grace period” until 2028, but then also needs to be upgraded to support the external control in case their inverter power exceeds 4.2 kW.

Seeing a lot of other manufacturers comming up with a simple two-pin conencor which is closed in order to signal an “active” limit. All these devices and/or software, including various opensource plattforms such as openwb or evcc apparently just do this through a software regulation, but claim to be suitable for §14a EnWG.

And to my understanding this seems fine: There is just a Device from the grid-provider that “translates” the provider signal into two ways:

  • EEBUS-Signal
  • 2pin-contactor

Implementing the usage of any of these signals is up to the households energy management system, they say.

So, in the victron world, that would basically mean: IO active => override the DVCC-Chargecurrent-Limit with a proper value (based on battery) to achive a maximum 4.2 kW load (Grid2Bat), wouldn’t it?

Preferrably without the option to adjust, as long as the limit is enabled through the IO provided.

(Having victron doing this in a built-in way is probably more thrustworthy than individual users programming this, even tho the EnWG does no where mention how that internal regulation of the households energy management system has to work.)

For example, Fronius is also just using two input pins along with the signal the “VNB Steuergerät” is delivering - and there is ofc. no way to stop the user from removing these cables, yet it is officially §14a EnWG compliant. (The device has to document the signal for upto 2 years and proof it applied the proper limits, when beeing asked for, Fronius uses cloud-storage for that.)

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Any plans on victron side? Doesn’t seem like a all-to-big deal. Just wire the functionality to the selected german Grid-Code?

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Maybe you get lucky and receive a response, but typically these sort of “futures” requests don’t which is why the guidelines ask members to refrain from such topics, or indeed trying to ask victron directly, and rather to refer to the official channels.
Just setting an expectation as community members don’t have these answers.

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I know that this kind of questions isn’t to be addressed to the community - but given it may be of interest of some ten-thousand users and take influence on the purchasing-decision of “future” customers - It would be easier to have a public statement, rather than answering dozens of personal contact questions every day, I would assume?

Wouldn’t expect technical details and/or a timeline, but knowing if there will be something before 01.01.2029 would be sufficient (for me - not for (german) people who want to buy a Victron system now, tho)

Maybe @guystewart could gather some information here and give a tiny sneak preview :wink: - Or if totally undesired in the public domain, just close this topic.

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So far, Victron has always found a solution that is in line with the market, even for specific country specifications. So I don’t worry too much about it

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I’m already in discussion with Victron about that.
The problem is to implement it in a way that the normal enduser can’t manipulate the settings.

For the EVCS there is an internal beta FW where you can limit the current to 6A with a switch similar to the Fronius solution.

For the MultiPlus you can use the “input current limit” assistant to limit the current to 6A.
Maybe that can be added to the German gridcode.

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Where this would limit the “whole” household (in terms of grid-pull), unless the installation is grid-parallel.

(Funny thing about the EnWG is that you have to “limit” your potential big consumers to 4.2 kW during signal time, the rest of the houshold could draw any amount desired :face_with_peeking_eye:)

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There are times I am grateful to be living on a backwards continent. While delivering power may be a permanent challenge, at least we are free from meddling bureaucrats justifying their existence with illogical regulations :grin:

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The problem here are naturally grown installations. I‘m using my wallbox longer than the Victron equipment. That means, I‘ve got no Victron wallbox but a model of a different company. I am able to control this wallbox, but I have to program it via Node-RED. There is no general Victron-wallbox-interface.

I‘m trying to solve this by implementing a Node-RED flow, triggered by a door contact.

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Of course, this solution can be modified by the user. In my case, I‘ve got no interest in modifying this, because during daytime I only use solar excess (summer), and having to load my car during the night (winter) means I‘ve got a lot of time, so I can use low currents.

At the moment, my flow calculates the wattage that can be obtained by the §14a-devices, adds the household use. The next step would be the reduction of use by the devices, when they use more than allowed. Or the calculation of a maximum, combined with a logic that distributes the allowed wattage among the different devices.

There we need a UI to enter the individual preferences. Heating, charging the car, refilling the household battery … the system has to know what is most important to the user at this moment.

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Is it kind of Smart Grid implementation in Germany?

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More some kind of “emergency break” feature if a grid overload is close.

Could help to avoid issues with a grid overload during peak-times, but not a big restriction for each individual person. It’s usage is limited to 2h within 24h (by law) and does not even target overall households consumption, just individual devices with more than 4.2 kW “potential grid pull”.

Clearly targeting evs, heatpumps, air conditioning and stuff, unfortunately most ESS also fall into this, even if they are only used for storing solar power (that’s always the downside of “strict borders as per definition”)

However on the good side, people who have their devices ready get about 160€ discount per year on grid-usage-fees.

It is mandatory to have “your part ready” for systems since 1.1.24 - but almost no grid provider is currently able to provide the required control devices and / or utilize the ones already installed. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yes, some devices, like Heat Pumps (I have Viessmann, here is the article on an old forum where I implemented smart grid control for it https://communityarchive.victronenergy.com/articles/303827/viessmann-heat-pump-smart-grid-control-with-cerbo.html), EVC. So basically for any “heavy load” devices. What I’m wondering is that to make such dynamic control around them not possible without some kind of Smart Home control, where centralized devices control other devices, or multiple receivers connected to such devices.
From the Victron side, I think what you can do is to have this “two-pin connector” to be connected to Cerbo dry contactors, so you can know on cerbo level that there are some restrictions. Then node red or similar solutions can automate actions on this. But I have no idea how they are planning to do this all around the country.

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A GX device would be the optimal solution in controlling the other devices. The owner of the installation is obliged to document the successful throttling process. So, the GX device must be able to control the other devices (problem: missing standardized interfaces) and has to log the behaviour when the throttling command occurs.

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From what I read everywhere, this is only for systems which were build before 2024 and which are already controlable by the VNB. Those have to be transfered to the new regulation till 2028. All existing systems ( installed before 2024), which doesnt have a control unit, those will stay like they are.

“Für Bestandsanlagen, für die eine Vereinbarung zur Steuerung durch den Netzbetreiber besteht, sieht die Bundesnetzagentur Übergangsregelungen vor. Bestandsanlagen ohne eine solche Vereinbarung bleiben dauerhaft ausgenommen.”

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I am in the same boat and doing the same thing.
And the ability to be overriden by the end-user is the exact problem, why this solution is problematic with the DSO.
What is needed from victron is a general setting, that when the contact is closed (by the DSO, remotely), the GX has to ignore any overides regarding grid setpoint AND has to observe and manage the total comsumption from grid not go above the allowed threshold (for batteries, wallboxes and heatpumps connected).
For evchargers the metering can already be activated. Since v350.beta this is also true for heatpumps.
What is lacking is a generic interface to create a device instance and then have data fed into the GX, even for non victron equipment.

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To achieve this, it would be best to have a meter that reports the household consumption. It would be easier than metering every single regulated consumer. Some consumers are easy to regulate, because they are well integrated in the Victron world (e.g. batteries). But there are so many different wallboxes, heatpumps etc., and no standardized interface that is supported by all devices. So it will not be an easy task to realize this feature.

As the enduser has to document the down-regulation, I am not interested in finding ways around it. The rules in §14a EnWG do state the obligations of the enduser, they do not say, that the enduser has to play a passive role. I do not know if the Bundesnetzagentur forbids user-made solutions.

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The §14 is typical German. Unfortunately the law is already final and conlusive but almost no ideas on how to realize. Same with the 70% rule what was replaced in September 2022 with the EEG. Currently all installations above 25kWp (not 25kVA!!!) needs remote control for 100,70,60,30,0 percent using NO relay inputs.

Typically German because the public supply carriers still cannot supply appropriate ImSys Gateways for all customers to switch the 4 relay contacts. Most users have to buy expensive 129 khz long wave radio receiver (Rundsteuerempfänger). This system was introduced in 2002 but nobody knows when the transmitter in Frankfurt-Mainflingen will be switched off.

Remotes using 4 relay contacts are ancient and the future is clearly the “intelligent” ImSys Gateway what communicates over EEBUS with user devices. EEbus does not depend on any specific physical connection. Up on today, I never saw any working EEBUS device. SMA is member of the EEBUS club but upon today not a single inverter model available. Luckily the protocol spec is completely free for download after registration with any email address. The preliminary specs are mostly Version 1.0 but Victron designers should be familiar with them soon as they are intended for Germany and possisbly also whole Europe.

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I’m doing some stuff for a german grid provider as well, and they are not very interested in getting anything running anyway.

They don’t expect any issues in the first place, and if there would be, they have way superior options than cutting down private consumers by some kW.

The measure is considered completly inefficent, because they don’t have any data how much consumption this would actually “cut off”. So, pushing the button may result in “just no relaxation” of anything. They prefer to use measures where they know the impact of doing it, when required.

The law is designed by someone who thinks that’s a great idea, without even talking to people it’s designed for, it seems.

However, Facts are not helping anyone who can’t take a system online, because it lacks (unused) remote control functionality.

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The regulation says 4.2kW per device, right?
So when there is a heatpump, an ev-chager and a victron charger… its then 3x4,2kW?

Despite all that I can run my two ovens (combined 10kW), TV-System (2kW), AC (3kW) in addition without regulation.

Well, German regulations always contain how politicians envision the “Typical German Household”. And if you are a single Ångström different, you are faced with impossible compliance rules.

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No, there is a special rule that applies for simultaneous/concurrent connected devices (in German: Gleichzeitigkeitsfaktor, see for Example: https://www.swm-infrastruktur.de/dam/swm-infrastruktur/dokumente/strom/netzanschluss/enwg-tma-steuerbare-verbrauchseinrichtungen.pdf).

…in your Example, one EV, one HP, one battery, the allowed SUM is 10.5kW.
Edit: and this is only if your HP will consume below 11kW.

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yes, but dynamic grid-tariffs are also part of legislation and will come during 2025.