How real-time data and flexible grid connections give Swiss utilities more room to maneuver
Electricity demand in Switzerland is changing not only in volume but in its fundamental character: it is becoming more local, more dynamic, and harder to predict.
Rooftop systems on residential, commercial, and agricultural buildings are increasingly feeding into distribution grids – simultaneously, decentrally, and volatilely. Heat pumps are replacing oil heaters. Electric vehicles are charging in residential neighborhoods.
For Swiss electric utilities (EVUs), this means that grid planning alone is no longer enough. What is increasingly needed is the ability to monitor and control the grid during ongoing operation – and to enable new connections despite limited capacities.
The blind spot in the distribution grid
While transmission grids have been operated with real-time control systems for decades, many distribution grids still lack comparable operational transparency. Grid planners know how the grid is designed. They much less frequently know how it is currently being operated.
Specifically: Which transformers are currently how heavily loaded? Where are overvoltages occurring due to simultaneous PV feed-in? Which grid section is actually still under pressure when the next connection request comes in – and which is not?
Without answers to these questions, operational decisions and connection assessments remain conservative. In case of doubt, a connection is rejected or a reinforcement measure is scheduled that might not be necessary at all. Grid expansion based on suspicion, rather than on the basis of data.
Real-time data as the foundation for intelligent control
The basis for modern grid operation is a consistent, continuously updated grid model – a digital twin of the distribution grid that combines topology, equipment parameters, and current measurement data.
On this basis, the grid state can be estimated automatically – even where a complete measurement infrastructure is not available. Station measurements, smart meter data, and sensor technology are merged, cleaned, and converted into a situational picture that represents the actual operating state of the grid.
The Online Monitoring of the Intelligent Grid Platform (IGP) from envelio provides exactly this situational picture: bottlenecks are identified before they become a disruption. Overload risks are localized. And the data flows directly into operational decisions – without manual evaluation, without delay.
The Intelligent Grid Platform from envelio offers a solution for the challenges of distribution system operators: a smart grid technology platform that permanently combines all grid data and handles processes related to grid connection checks, strategic grid planning, and grid monitoring digitally and automatically. More than 55 grid operators in Europe are already using the platform productively.
Flexible grid connections: more systems on the grid without waiting
Real-time data also changes how grid connections are assessed. The classic approach – testing against the theoretical maximum case, rejection in case of insufficient capacity – is increasingly a barrier to the expansion of renewable energies.
Flexible grid connections – internationally known as Flexible Connection Agreements (FCA) – offer a more pragmatic path: instead of a full connection for the nominal power or a rejection, a connection is approved under defined operating conditions.
The principle: A PV system or battery storage system is connected – with an agreement to temporarily limit the feed-in in clearly defined bottleneck situations. Statistically speaking, the critical situation in which the grid actually reaches its limit occurs rarely – typically a few dozen to a maximum of 100 hours per year. During the rest of the time, the system runs without restriction.
Three variants are established in practice:
- Event-based limitation: The system feeds in without restriction but is temporarily throttled during predicted bottlenecks.
- Time-window-based limitation: Power is reduced in defined time windows during which the grid is regularly at capacity.
- Shared Connection: Several systems share a grid connection point and coordinate their feed-in – the grid does not have to be designed for the sum of their maximum outputs.
For system operators, the calculation is clear: a few hours of restriction per year are usually economically acceptable – compared to the scenario of waiting years for a grid connection.
What FCAs require in practice
Flexible grid connections are not a bureaucratic concept that can be implemented without a technical basis. To create a reliable FCA offer, a grid operator needs three things:
First, an up-to-date, calculable grid model that evaluates capacity reserves based on realistic operating profiles rather than nominal power. Second, an automated connection check that directly calculates various FCA scenarios: which combination of power limit and restriction duration is technically justifiable and economically sensible for the connection applicant? And third, monitoring processes that automatically monitor during ongoing operation whether agreed limits are being observed – with seamless documentation of every intervention.
Practice: How Glitre Nett in Norway uses FCAs operationally
Glitre Nett, Norway's second-largest grid operator with over 320,000 customers, shows that flexible grid connections are not a concept of the future. Norway is facing a massive wave of electrification – hydrogen production, industrial decarbonization, new energy-intensive large-scale facilities. Available grid capacities are already exhausted in several regions.
In the "DataArena" research project, Glitre Nett introduced an automated capacity assessment based on the IGP that distinguishes between fixed and conditional – i.e., FCA-based – capacity. Energy coordinators can since independently check which connections are feasible under which FCA conditions without manual grid planner analysis. The result: more realizable projects, shorter processing times, fewer structural rejections.
The context is comparable to the Swiss situation: many decentralized connection requests, limited grid capacities, small-scale supply structure.
From planning to operation: the complete platform
Utilities that already rely on the IGP for target grid planning and grid simulations can take the next step with the same grid data: from the planning perspective to operational real-time operation.
The congestion management of the IGP automatically detects bottlenecks, supports the control of controllable loads and feeders, and documents all measures in an audit-proof manner. The combination of real-time data, FCA-capable connection testing, and operational monitoring on a common data basis is the core of what modern grid management is all about.
The advantage for utilities with limited resources: no parallel systems, no duplicate data storage – a platform that integrates planning and operation.
