For more than 180 days, the electricity supply for the country's almost 5 million inhabitants has been provided almost entirely by renewable energy sources. Thanks to hydropower in particular, the country can now almost completely dispense with fossil fuels for its electricity supply. In addition to hydropower, wind power, photovoltaics and geothermal energy are also used.
Source: www.trendsderzukunft.de/... (26.9.2016)
The property developer WvM Immobilien + Projektentwicklung GmbH and the eco-energy supplier NATURSTROM AG found the joint company Green Estate. With the fusion of energy and real estate know-how, the partners are taking a new path to enable people to live sustainably.
The aim of the cooperation is to include decentralised, clean energy generation in future WvM building projects from the very beginning - and thus to optimally exploit the possibilities of a networked electricity, heating and e-mobility infrastructure. The Green Estate acts as an operating company through which WvM and NATURSTROM jointly invest in the building energy systems in the WvM properties. NATURSTROM will then take over the technical operation of the systems and the billing of energy consumption to the customers. "We have the vision of providing people with a sustainable supply of electricity and heat exclusively from renewable sources on site," explains NATURSTROM CEO Dr Tim Meyer. "With WvM, we have found a partner who pursues the same goals."
With the founding of Green Estate, NATURSTROM and WvM Immobilien are entering into the first cooperation of this kind. Such a far-reaching cooperation is absolutely exemplary, because in the course of a decentralised energy turnaround, more and more overlaps are emerging between the energy and real estate industries. The ecological capabilities of cities and urban centres are crucial for the future of the planet.
For each building project, the companies develop an individual energy concept in order to make the best possible use of the on-site generation potential and to align it with the respective demand. "Behind NATURSTROM are thoroughbred enthusiasts who live and breathe climate protection and with whom we are happy to cooperate for this reason, among others," says Raphael Hüffelmann, Head of Construction Project Management at WvM, explaining the cooperation.
The planning for the first two construction projects in Cologne and Berlin has already been completed, and further projects are in the planning stage - including the residential quarter in Subbelrather Straße in Cologne-Ehrenfeld, for which WvM and NATURSTROM are currently developing an innovative climate-friendly energy concept for sustainable living.
Picture material for download: Visualisation project Subbelrather Straße Cologne. © WvM Real Estate
About WvM Real Estate
WvM Immobilien + Projektentwicklung was founded in 1992 by Wolfgang von Moers and is Cologne's largest owner-managed property developer for residential real estate. We currently employ more than 120 people; in addition to civil engineers and architects, we also have real estate agents, marketing and sales specialists. The range of services covers the entire value chain from purchasing to development/realisation to the sale and management of the properties. Since June 2017, we have been represented with a location in Berlin-Charlottenburg.
Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, Cologne, Tenant electricity, News Blog Berlin, News Blog NRW, Quarters, Settlements, Housing
At a hydroelectric power plant operated by the energy company Energiedienst in Grenzach-Wylen, the production of green hydrogen has been running successfully for four months. The project produces 500 kilograms of hydrogen per day.
Hydrogen from hydropower: successful start for one of the largest power-to-gas plants in Germany to date. This is reported by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW). The megawatt plant has been in operation for four months in April 2020 and is functioning reliably. A research electrolyser connected to it is also running successfully. The ZSW is coordinating the project. The operator of the commercial plant is the energy supplier Energiedienst AG.
The power-to-gas plant with an electrical connected load of one megawatt produces renewable hydrogen using electricity from the Rhine hydroelectric power plant in Wyhlen. Since it is not necessary to use the public electricity grid, grid fees and the EEG surcharge do not apply. In addition, high full load hours can be achieved because the hydropower is available practically around the clock. This further improves the economic efficiency and enables extensive operating experience to be gained quickly.
He said the plant has been running regularly since early December 2019 and has had 1,850 hours of operation since then. Previously, it was in trial operation. The monitoring system set up by the ZSW, which measures all essential components and subsystems, functions perfectly. The plant operates fully automatically in 24-hour operation both at full load and in various partial load conditions.
The ZSW monitors operation with the help of remote data transmission to Stuttgart and automated data evaluation. The overall efficiency of electricity to high-purity hydrogen compressed to 300 bar is currently up to 66 percent in relation to the calorific value of the gas. In addition, the researchers are investigating ageing effects and deriving potential improvements from the data.
So far, the plant has filled 62 trailers with hydrogen suitable for fuel cells. Each of these transportable containers holds around 300 kilograms. The plant can produce up to 500 kilograms of hydrogen per day. This is enough for an average daily mileage of more than 1,000 fuel cell cars.
The research project docked to the commercial plant is also progressing positively. In a research plant, the scientists are testing improved electrolysis blocks with a maximum output of 300 kilowatts in parallel operation with the commercial plant. They should further reduce the price of hydrogen. But companies could also test and optimize components there.
Last year, the ZSW and its research partners already achieved an initial success during the test operation of the plant: with new electrode coatings, the researchers achieved 20 percent more power density compared to the electrolysis blocks of the industrial plant section. This means that less volume and material are required for the same output.
Since the investment costs are also based on the construction volume and the electrolysis units account for the largest share of costs in the conversion of renewable electricity at around 40 percent, progress in this area is automatically reflected in the price of hydrogen. For manufacturers of electrolysis plants, development is therefore an important factor for further cost reduction. The long-term goal of the ZSW researchers and Energiedienst engineers is to roughly halve the current production costs of electricity-based hydrogen.
The state of Baden-Württemberg supports the Lighthouse project with a total of 4.5 million euros. In 2019, a project based on this was selected by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology as one of the winners of the first round of the "Reallabore der Energiewende" ideas competition. A total of twelve partners are on board for this major project.
14.4.2020 | Source: ZSW
See also:
http://sdg21.eu/blog/gruener-wasserstoff-aus-wyhlen-behoerden-geben-gruenes-licht
Keywords:
Energy storage, Research, News Blog Baden-Württemberg, Power-to-Gas, Hydrogen
Vancouver celebrates topping-out ceremony of the world's tallest wooden residential building at present
26.08.2016 - In Vancouver, Canada, a world record in timber construction has been set - almost casually and without much fuss. The wooden structure of the 18-storey student dormitory of the University of British Columbia was erected in 66 working days and celebrated its topping-out ceremony on 10 August. The steel roof structure and parts of the prefabricated façade, which was insulated with wood fibre and clad with weatherproof HPL panels, are still missing.
According to the current schedule, the project, which cost around € 35 million, could be completed and handed over to the owner in September next year. Then over 400 students will move into over 300 flats. The construction consists of a combination of glulam columns and cross-laminated timber floors - the foundation, ground floor and staircase lift houses were concreted.
Photos, film and more info:
www.holzbauaustria.at/...
Keywords:
Wood construction
Today, Federal Minister of Economics and Climate Protection Robert Habeck presented the second PV-The aim is to significantly accelerate the expansion of solar energy in Germany. The goal is to significantly accelerate the expansion of solar energy in Germany. To this end, the strategy identifies measures in a total of eleven fields of action. The spectrum ranges from measures in the area of energy policy to the topics of securing skilled labour, industrial value creation in Europe and technology development. This was preceded by a first photovoltaic summit in March 2023. Since March, the PV strategy has been consulted. More than 600 comments were received.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck says: "Photovoltaics is one of the cheapest energy sources of all and is one of the most important sources of electricity generation of the future. By 2030, the share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption is to be 80 percent. Photovoltaics, with an installed capacity of 215 gigawatts by 2030, is expected to make an important contribution here. This shows that we have a lot of work ahead of us. But we can see that the expansion is picking up. Last year it was over 7 gigawatts. The interim target for the current year is 9 gigawatts. The chances that we will reach this interim target are good: in the first quarter of 2023, just under 2.7 gigawatts were already added. GW newly installed.
With the strategy presented today, we want to significantly accelerate the expansion and remove all the brakes that have prevented a faster pace of expansion so far".
In recent months, the German government has already launched numerous measures to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies, including increasing the tendering volumes, adjusting the remuneration rates and removing regulatory hurdles. The PV-strategy now focuses on remaining barriers.
The implementation of the strategy will start immediately after its publication. Some of the measures are to be implemented within the framework of the sog. "Solar Package I" to the cabinet before the summer break. Further measures, some of which require more preparatory work, are to follow in a second solar package. Even during the legislative work, the BMWK open to suggestions: the e-mail address set up for this purpose will remain pv-strategie@bmwk.bund.de also continues to be active.
You can find the photovoltaic strategy here.
Source: BMWK press release of 05.05.2023
Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, PV, PlusEnergy house/settlement, Environmental policy
