enera: The next big step in the energy turnaround
February 21, 2017
The first meeting of partners from business and science has been completed, the next one is scheduled: A few weeks ago, a project started, of which Dr. Marius Buchmann at Jacobs University in Bremen says that is one of the greatest and most important demonstration projects to date for the energy turnaround (Energiewende) and smart grids in Germany – At the start of February, it was presented at E-World in Essen. The enera project is intended to develop a more environmentally friendly, safe, and affordable energy supply system – and to do so with a high proportion of renewable energy.
A team led by the economist Buchmann at the Chair of Prof. Dr. Gert Brunekreeft at Jacobs University is dealing, among other things, with the economic aspects of the implementation of smart grids. It is a subdivision of the consortium under the overall direction of EWE AG in Oldenburg.
At the heart of enera are digitalization of the energy sector, intelligent networking of production and consumption, and the use of innovative network technologies and operating concepts. On the rapidly changing energy market, the boundaries between producers and consumers are becoming increasingly blurred; energy utilization is becoming more decentralized and varied. Households and companies feed power into the networks and retrieve it as needed. Intelligent IT solutions are designed to help bring the individual components together, so that more is achieved with less electricity.
The work group of Brunekreeft and Buchmann at Jacobs University are focusing not on the technology; instead, it is examining the economic behavior of the actors in the electricity markets: Which new players are appearing in which roles? What incentives will encourage them to behave efficiently? "For us, the exchange with the industrial partners is very important," says Buchmann. "We want to develop recommendations for action for the use of the technologies."
A total of 75 partners are participating in enera, including companies like SAP, Enercon, or Siemens. Even in the Far East, the project is engendering interest; a Japanese consortium is also interested in close cooperation. The project is being implemented in the counties of Friesland, Wittmund, and Aurich, as well as in the city of Emden. Among other things, the plans call for installation of up to 30,000 measurement systems in the model region. The overall project is being led by EWE in Oldenburg and is being funded by the German Federal Government with a sum of 50 million Euro. In total, over a four-year period, the project is expected to free up investments in the amount of 170 million Euro.
The topic is also of relevance for the Bremen area. For example, WFB (Wirtschaftsförderung Bremen GmbH / Bremen Invest, Bremen's economic development unit) is organizing the event "Rethinking energy business" in April, at which the enera project will be presented.
Additional information:
www.jacobs-university.de
http://www.energie-vernetzen.de/enera.html
http://b-e-r.user.jacobs-university.de/index.php/people/mariusbuchmann
https://www.wfb-bremen.de/de/page/event/52961
Questions will be answered by:
Dr. Marius Buchmann | Project Leader enera
m.buchmann [at] jacobs-university.de | Tel.: +49 421 200-4868
Contact:
Thomas Joppig | Brand Management, Marketing & Communications
t.joppig [at] jacobs-university.de | Tel.: +49 421 200-4504