The energy world of tomorrow in a practical test
With SmartQuart, the first real laboratory of the energy transition was launched. It tests innovative solutions for the energy supply of the future. These should later be transferable to other quarters in Germany.
How will we generate energy in the future and how can we use it wisely? How will we live in cities and rural areas in the future if electricity and heat come 100 percent from renewable sources? And how does our energy supply always remain secure despite fluctuating energy feed from wind and sun? Answers to this and many other solutions are provided by the real laboratories of the energy transition. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy wants to use them to accelerate the transfer of innovations into practice. Because the German climate protection goals are ambitious. To achieve this, the share of renewable energies still has to grow significantly. That is also a goal of the SmartQuart project. Here, citizens as well as local planners, utilities and municipalities are involved in the implementation of the energy and heating transition on site. SmartQuart is the first of several real laboratories to start practical trials. In July 2019, Federal Minister Altmaier announced the winners of the real laboratories ideas competition for the energy transition.
Innovations tested under real conditions
“I am pleased that the first real laboratory for the energy transition is now starting work. Our real laboratories for the energy transition are innovation projects on an industrial scale. We develop and test technologies that we need for our ambitious energy and climate policy goals and test them in the real laboratories of the energy transition under real conditions and on an industrial scale, ”said Minister Altmaier on the occasion of the handover of the funding notification for SmartQuart in December 2019.
Fossil fuels should become superfluous
The real laboratory deals with the energy world of the future in quarters in urban and rural areas. One goal is to replace fossil fuels such as coal there with renewable energies. Information and communication technologies paired with intelligent power grids (so-called smart grids) ensure that the various systems can be linked and the network can be controlled intelligently. At three locations in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the sectors of heat, electricity and mobility can be linked.
Hydrogen-based microgrid in the country
For example, a hydrogen-based microgrid (a small-scale smart grid) is to be set up in the rural community of Kaisersesch. Wind and photovoltaic systems supply renewable electricity to generate hydrogen if the electricity is not needed directly. The Kaisersesch region is testing the entire hydrogen value chain, from generation, conversion, storage and distribution to use.
Energy transition in urban areas
By contrast, new technologies for the energy transition are being rehearsed in a densely populated area in the Essen literary quarter, the former site of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ). With the help of a photovoltaic and hybrid photovoltaic system, the district with residential areas, small businesses, office and hotel buildings is to be increasingly supplied with renewable electricity in the future. This also includes a central, district-owned energy store and intelligent digital energy management. Charging stations, electric cars and bike sharing also make new mobility offers. In this way, the generation and consumption of energy should be optimized at the local level.
Neighborhoods use energy optimally in mutual exchange
It is particularly important that the quarters should be able to exchange their energy within and with each other. In this way, even different quarters could complement each other sustainably and economically. Because a rural, sparsely populated area has completely different energy requirements than an inner-city area with many consumers. But both also offer other ways of generating energy. In all three SmartQuart districts, residents, energy suppliers and local technology providers are involved in the implementation of the real laboratory. The knowledge gained in this way should later be transferable to other residential and urban areas in Germany.
More real laboratories are starting this year
In 2020, more real-world laboratories for the energy transition are to start working. These “laboratories” for the energy world of tomorrow can be found all over Germany, including in areas affected by structural change such as the former coal regions. The novelty: For the first time, various innovative technologies and processes - such as the production of hydrogen - are being tested under real conditions and on an industrial scale. This involves a wide range of questions: How can large quantities of hydrogen be produced and stored inexpensively from green electricity? How can commercial and private households be networked and optimally supplied with electricity and heat? Or: How can existing infrastructure be made usable for the energy transition?
The real laboratories of the energy transition are part of the 7th energy research program of the federal government. It promotes companies and scientific institutions that develop new technologies and solutions for the energy transition.
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy / ISE- January 2020
