18 July 2019

The winners of the “Living Labs for the Energy Transition” competition have been announced.

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has announced the winners of the “Living Labs for the Energy Transition” competition. The ministry has selected 20 real-world laboratories. Here, innovations can be examined on an industrial scale and in a real environment. Partners from industry and research are testing their innovations and new technologies in model regions, which can include districts, cities or even several countries. In this way all actors and technologies come together, whereby they must interact and function as a whole. All projects focus on the practical implementation.

Storing wind power

One of the winners is the EnergiePark Bad Lauchstädt real-world laboratory near Leipzig. Here, electricity from a wind farm is converted into hydrogen using an electrolysis process. The hydrogen is then stored in underground caverns in a salt dome. From there it is transported via a natural gas pipeline, which has been converted for hydrogen operation, to the Middle German Chemical Triangle where it can be used for chemical processes. The hydrogen produced can also be used to drive cars and generate heat in the surrounding cities.

Lignite-fired power plant becomes heat storage facility

The StoreToPower real-world laboratory is concerned with the development of a heat storage power plant. Here the consortium is utilising the infrastructure provided by a lignite-fired power plant. In a heat storage module, electricity is used to heat liquid salt up to 560 degrees Celsius and then store it in a tank. If there is an increased demand for electricity, the molten salt is used to generate steam, which is then reused to generate electricity in the power plant's turbine. This can therefore replace part of the steam generated with coal and improve the CO2 balance of the power plant. The pilot plant can be expanded step by step by adding further modules and can then also run in pure storage mode once the use of coal has been phased out. The project therefore provides an important transformational basis through the sustainable use of power plant sites.

Geothermal energy warms Hamburg

With the Integrated Heat Transfer Wilhelmsburg IW3 real-world laboratory, the island of Wilhelmsburg in the River Elbe in Hamburg shows that a reliable and affordable heat supply based on renewable energies is possible. Heat, electricity and mobility are being efficiently combined in the rapidly growing district. Geothermal energy is extracted from a depth of around 3,500 metres via a geothermal plant and fed into a local district heating network. During the summer months excess heat will be temporarily stored in near-surface, water-conducting rock. A cross-system technology platform links heat, electricity and mobility in the neighbourhood via a virtual power plant to achieve an intelligent, efficient and renewable energy supply.