Younicos provides storage expertise for clean energy lighthouse project

enera consortium delivers blueprint for Energiewende

We’re contributing our commercial energy storage expertise and experience to the 75-member “enera” consortium, which aims to produce the blueprint for the next phase in Germany’s Energiewende (Energy Transition). enera will invest 200 million Euros to transform the country’s northwestern coastal region into a “showcase for smart energy.” The consortium, led by local utility EWE, submitted an application to the German government for a 30 percent research grant. If the four-year project is approved, Younicos will demonstrate how large-scale energy storage is enabling an efficient and sustainable energy infrastructure.

“We’re looking forward to showing the approximately 400,000 inhabitants in the region, how intelligent use of storage reduces the need for network expansion and lowers costs for consumers,” said Younicos co-founder Clemens Triebel. “We’re delighted to apply the experience and knowledge we’ve gained from 23 battery-based storage projects with a combined power rating of almost 100 megawatts to this new challenge. In over ten years of pioneering work, we have developed entirely new software for communications and control between the power grid, electricity market and battery plant. It is exactly this type of IT expertise that’s needed for the success of Energiewende – not only in Germany but throughout Europe.”

The goal of enera, which comprises the counties of Aurich, Friesland and Wittmund, as well as the city of Emden, is to use intelligent technologies to optimize the interaction of power grid, market and data, and to adapt the regulatory framework to new technical possibilities. The 2,665 square kilometer region is predominantly agricultural, but also includes industrial centers. It is therefore ideally suited to represent the energy transition on a small scale. The region already utilizes wind and other renewable energy resources with a total capacity of 1.75 gigawatts, resulting in a 2013 “net balance” share of more than 170 percent renewable energy, the surplus of which was exported for use elsewhere.

Contact:

Younicos AG
Philip Hiersemenzel
Email: press(at)younicos.com
Tel.: +49-174-9088188

Further information: energie-vernetzen.de (in German)