Companies and scientists are investigating the storage of fluctuating wind energy in the form of hydrogen on a research plant located in the Mainz-Hechtsheim commercial zone. All key components from generation and storage to utilisation at an industrial scale are being looked at and interlinked with innovative technology components. The PtG plant (Power-to-Gas) at megawatt scale facilitates not only the chemical long-term storage of energy. It furthermore interconnects the electricity, heat and mobility sectors.  more...

How can energy efficiency measures and the utilisation of renewable energy sources enable districts to get by with virtually no fossil fuel? How can smart networking of power, heat and mobility be achieved? Scientists and other stakeholders are investigating these questions in six flagship projects. Initial results and local challenges were outlined by the research teams in a panel discussion at the Berliner Energietage conference.  more...

The Smart Green Tower is being built in the city of Freiburg. The 51-metre-high building will provide living, residential and working space. Depending on the solar radiation, a building envelope made of photovoltaic modules generates more energy via the photovoltaic system than can be consumed directly. In order to utilise the surplus electricity, the designers are using a flexible internal energy storage system with lithium-ion batteries.  more...

The Solar Decathlon student competition challenges the participating teams to develop completely solar-powered houses. More than 250 buildings have already been built in the 13 competitions that have taken place to date. A considerable amount of investigative spirit has gone into designing all of them, they are comparable and well documented. A freely accessible online database now provides a comprehensive overview and the framework for systematically evaluating the innovations and results.  more...

The closing event of the “ETA Factory” research project took place at TU Darmstadt on 11 April 2018. In the course of the project, a multidisciplinary research group was able to demonstrate the feasibility of energy savings of up to 40 percent in industrial production. The jointly planned research factory saw researchers optimise and network energy flows in production and within the building.  more...

Scientists from industry, research and municipal companies have developed a management system as part of the “City as Storage System” project, bundling CHP plants, heat pumps, night storage heating infrastructures, PV batteries and other systems. Final field testing has shown how storage units, generators and loads in coordinated operation support the power grid as a virtual energy storage system.  more...

Sustainable energy provision is to be developed for the urban district of Rüsdorfer Kamp in Heide. The QUARREE100 research project is investigating how the district could be fully supplied with local or regional renewable energy sources. One goal is to integrate the regionally generated wind power into the regional energy system in an economically efficient and system-serving way.  more...

A new residential district is being built on the site of a former air base in Oldenburg. In addition to new buildings, some of the former barracks buildings will be preserved and converted into residential buildings. A new infrastructure concept is planned that will couple the electricity, heating/cooling and electromobility sectors and integrate them into a cross-sectoral supply network. In addition, the project partners are developing a digital service platform to provide intelligent load and procurement management at the district level.  more...

One year ago, scientists sank a concrete sphere one hundred metres below the surface of Lake Constance. The three-metre-diameter hollow body provided a functional model for an offshore pumped storage power plant. Now they have received the “German Renewables Award 2017” for their research work. The developers at Fraunhofer IWES are already planning the next step.  more...

Refrigerators that consume electricity precisely when the wind and the sun provide excess electrical energy, and which during slack periods maintain their cooling temperature without additional energy input, would greatly relieve the grid. Scientists from ZAE Bayern are investigating the costs and benefits of such a load shift together with industrial partners. For this purpose they are increasing the thermal inertia of an efficient standard refrigerator by installing latent heat storage units. The test device can thereby bridge longer standstill times.  more...