The batteries in electric vehicles can store surplus energy from the electricity grid. By the same token, they can feed back electrical energy to the grid at times of high demand for electricity. As part of the NET-INES project, scientists are investigating different charging and discharging strategies as well as the opportunities to market this service. For this purpose, they surveyed more than 600 vehicle owners.  more...

Through the “Thermochemical energy storage unit for thermal power plants and industrial heat” project (TcET), researchers at TU Munich hope to increase the flexibility of fossil fuel power plants. The trick in all of this: If no or a reduced volume of electrical power is required, the plant does not power down. The surplus energy rather is temporarily stored in thermochemical storage systems.  more...

Pumped storage power plants make an important contribution to securing energy supplies and help to integrate renewable energies into the electricity grid in a profitable manner. However, it is precisely the grid feed-in of wind and solar power that is threatening the current business model for the plants. A study is therefore investigating how their economic viability and the investment environment can be improved through cooperation between Germany, Austria and Switzerland (the DACH countries).  more...

Energy research contributes towards the development of the processes and technologies necessary for achieving the goals of the energy turnaround. The German government has been continuously increasing funding for energy research since 2006. In 2013 alone, it spent 100 million euros more on this than in the prior year. This reinforced above all the research areas of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. It provided just under 300 million euros for each of these subjects.  more...

International research collaborations are becoming increasingly important. Germany is involved in a variety of ways in international energy research. An important pillar in this regard is its involvement in the International Energy Agency (IEA). Germany is a founding member of this organisation. An IEA field of activity particularly relevant to energy research is its energy technology network.  more...

Can large-scale hydrogen storage systems help pave the way for renewable energy? Scientists from several research institutes investigated the technical and economic requirements for this in the PlanDelyKaD research project. The research focused on hydrogen electrolysis and gas storage in salt caverns. The study also revealed the method’s potential on the market.  more...

Pumped storage power plants have been in use for over a hundred years to balance fluctuating electricity loads and to cover peak loads. The energy transition creates additional storage demand with its fluctuating feed-in of wind and solar power into the grid. New sites, however, are scarce. Whether the large differences in the tunnel heights of abandoned mines are usable or not is currently being investigated by an interdisciplinary team of researchers on the basis of two viable locations.  more...

The staff at the Federal Environment Agency’s research facilities in the Berlin district of Marienfelde can now test the German government’s first zero-energy building during their daily work. The energy supply is based on the exclusive use of renewable energies: a photovoltaic system produces electricity and a heat pump generates the necessary heating and cooling energy. The building is intended to generate just as much energy as it requires within one year.  more...

The North Frisian island of Pellworm has been a showcase for energy research since the early 1980s. The largest solar farm in Europe was installed there in 1983. In 1989, wind turbines were added to create Europe’s largest hybrid power plant. Now, the island is due to become power-independent, with an intelligent electricity grid with large-scale storage facilities and a large number of home storage systems.  more...

The “Partner-Dampfkraftwerk” research project, which has now begun, aims to significantly improve the demand-driven integration of electricity from fluctuating energy sources. For this purpose, their goal is that existing power plants will reliably balance out the fluctuating power from wind turbines or photovoltaic systems, in order to ensure grid stability. The optimisation measures could already be installed in the short term in existing power plants. With this aim in mind, four power plant operators are collaborating with three research institutes and two components manufacturers, under the project management of VGB PowerTech.  more...