Energy grids and storage
The Berlin-Brandenburg region is making a valuable contribution to the development of smart grids, storage concepts and innovative solutions for sector coupling between energy infrastructures.
Numerous innovations come from the region:
In the energy self-sufficient village of Feldheim in Brandenburg, consumers and businesses are supplied directly with energy from the locally installed renewable energy plants (wind, biogas and wood chips) via private local heating and electricity grids. A battery storage system is used to compensate for fluctuations in the wind energy supply.
In ENERTRAG's hydrogen hybrid power plant, green hydrogen is produced from wind power by electrolysis and stored. If required, this can be converted into electricity and heat in the combined heat and power plant. Hydrogen can also be used to refuel cars and buses as well as in industrial processes.
On the EUREF-Campus in Berlin, a nearly CO2-neutral energy supply will be realized with the help of a local micro smart grid with central load management by NBB Netzgesellschaft Berlin-Brandenburg. Furthermore, the GASAG Solution Plus built a 500 kWel P2H plant in combination with a P2C system and integrated it into the existing heating and cooling supply. This means that excess energy can be flexibly stored in the form of heat and cold in the event of heavy network loads.
In Berlin, the company Vattenfall Wärme operates Europe's largest power-to-heat plant. Its total output of 120 megawatts corresponds thermally to an output of around 60,000 standard water boilers. It replaced the hard coal unit "C" of the Reuter CHP plant and supplies up to 30,000 households with district heating. The system is preferably operated with electricity from renewable energies.
Blockheizkraftwerks- Träger- und Betreibergesellschaft mbH Berlin (BTB) has been operating its innovative cogeneration system with a river water heat pump at the cogeneration plant Schöneweide since 2022. It has a thermal output of around 3 MW making it the most powerful system of this type in Berlin.
About the Capital Region
„The specific combination of Brandenburg, a region with a high level of wind energy conversion, and Berlin, which has a high population density, offers outstanding potential for integrating renewable energy. Smart grid technology can be used to control storage systems and flexible loads, and managing cross-medial grids for electricity and heat.“
Berlin-Brandenburg is the ideal location for development and testing
- Leading in the development and management of energy networks with a high proportion of renewable energies
- Development and integration of energy storage technologies for grid stabilization
- Expertise for system security in complex energy networks
- Management of multi-sectoral infrastructures (electricity, heat, water) and optimization in terms of efficiency and safety
- Development and implementation of sector coupling for:
- heat (power-to-heat) through high-temperature steel reservoirs, conventional water storage (up to 120 MWth), and salt reservoirs;
- Hydrogen deliver (power-to-gas), transport and storage;
- electromobility (power-to-mobility) and hydrogen for mobility (H₂-to-mobility) for public transport (rail and buses), logistics, and cars
Close cooperation of science and industry
- With the GridLab, the region has a unique research and training infrastructure for network simulation under operating conditions.
- At BTU Cottbus Senftenberg, sector-coupled energy systems (heat, electricity, storage and mobility) based on green hydrogen are being operated as part of the Energy Storage and Conversion (ESC) Lab.
- In the Smart Grid Laboratory at TU Berlin, electricity, heating and cooling grids, including generators, storage systems and consumers, can be simulated in their interaction.
- HTW Berlin has a special focus on the intelligent linking of photovoltaic systems with battery and heat storage.
