100% renewable...

A pilot project, in Germany, called KombiKraftwerk (or Combined Power Plant) is showing that "renewable energy can secure 100 per cent of energy supplies in accordance with demand."

The initiative links 36 decentralised biogas plants, wind, solar and hydropower installations in a robust network to demonstrate that distributed power can replace both fossil fuels and nuclear power.

The use of intelligent control and regulation technology enables decentralised wind, solar, biogas and hydropower installations to be linked together so that fluctuations in the amount of electricity fed into the grid can be compensated for. The central control unit forms the core of the Combined Renewable Energy Power Plant. Here, the various output forecasts and measurement values are balanced and, based on these data, suitable schedules and control instructions are drawn up for each plant.

"The 'virtual power plant' is a concept well known in research. It means that individual, decentralised power plants are linked to one another via a central control unit using information technology. The Combined Power Plant applies this principle by using renewable energy sources only."

An information campaign for renewable energies called "Deutschland hat unendlich viel Energie" (Germany has endless energy), has had an important role in promoting this initiative.

The campaign aims at strengthening the acceptance of renewable energies by the wide public, but also the media and policy-makers. It gathers information about the advantages of a lasting power supply on the basis of renewable energies, for dissemination.



"Technically, there is nothing preventing us from 100 per cent provision with renewables."

Links:
The Combined Power Plant press release
Das Regenerative Kombikraftwerk
Deutschland hat unendlich viel Energie