On this website different projects are presented whose goal it is to cover the energy demand by 100% renewable energies. The projects have different scopes. This ranges from the conversion of the energy supply to 100% renewable energies of a single house to that of an entire region. Projects from all over the world are described, mainly from Germany. The descriptions show what has already been achieved in the projects, what the remaining goals are and how the further procedure should look like. The table and map below provide an overview of the scope and location of the projects. Underneath the project detais are described.
đCity đHouse đQuater đRegion đVillage
| Name of the project | Classification | Location | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco - 100 % renewable power by 2030 | City | USA, California, San Francisco | 825863 |
| City of Aspen - 100% renewable power by 2015 | City | USA, Colorado, Aspen | 6600 |
| Rochester, MN - 100% renewable energy by 2031 | City | USA, Minnesota, City of Rochester | Ca. 100000 |
| East Hampton - 100% renewable energy by 2030 | City | USA, New York, East Hampton, peninsula on New Yorkâs Long Island | Ca. 21500 |
| Georgetown, TX - 100% renewable power procurement | City | USA, Texas, Georgetown | Ca. 54898 |
| Burlington, VT - 100% renewable public power | City | USA, Vermont, Burlington | Ca. 42282 |
| Energieautarkes Mehrfamilienhaus | House | Germany, Niedersachsen, Wilhelmshaven | 1 multifamily house including 6 apartments |
| Erstes energieautarkes Mehrfamilienhaus ohne Netzanschluss | House | Switzerland, ZĂŒrich, BrĂŒtten | 1 multifamily house including 9 apartments |
| Stadtteil Neustadt - Steigerung der Sanierungsquote in der Stadt Moosburg | Quarter | Germany, Bayern, Moosburg an der Isar | Ca. 4200 |
| Holzmarkt am Spreeufer | Quarter/ street | Germany, Berlin | |
| Quartierkonzept Möckernkiez | Quarter | Germany, Berlin Kreuzberg | |
| Schaufenster Dörpum | Quarter | Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, Bordelum | Ca. 500 in ca. 120 households |
| Am Aawasser | Quarter | Switzerland, Nidwalden, Buochs | 3 multifamily houses including 26 apartments |
| The Eco-Energy-Land (EEL / Das ökoEnergieland / Modell GĂŒssing) | region | Austria, Burgenland, GĂŒssing region | Ca. 18100, 19 municipalities |
| Rhein-HunsrĂŒck Kreis | region | Germany, Rheinland-Pfalz | Ca. 103000, 137 cities & isle-communities - 75 % under 500 inhabitants |
| Wildpoldsried - Das Energiedorf | Village | Germany, Bayern, Windpoldsried | Ca. 2500 |
| Energieautarkes Dorf Feldheim | Village | Germany, Brandenburg, Feldheim | Ca. 130 |
| Energieautarke Siedlung Alheim | Village | Germany, Hessen, Alheim | 5000 2500 (quarter Heinebach - all infrastructure is here e.g. banks, post-office, medicals, elementary school) |
| Die Klimakommune Saerbeck | Village | Germany, NRW, Saerbeck | Ca. 7000 |
| Pellworm | Village | Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, Pellworm | Ca. 1250 |
San Francisco is a renowned city and county on the central coast of California with a population of approximately 825863 and has the goal to have a 100% renewable electricity supply community wide by 2030.
The city had also released six strategies for meeting the 100% goal:
Further information:
The City of Aspen is located in the Rocky Mountains in the state of Colorado and has a population of just over 6600 people. Today, the City of Aspen electric system uses 100% renewable energy.
Solar thermal panel system used in domestic hot water supply while installing 92 KW solar electric PV system at the water treatment plant, produced more than 314000 kWh of electricity that is enough energy to power 27 homes for a year thus reducing carbon footprint by an estimated 9215000 pounds.
Further information:
Rochester, Minnesota is a city of approximately 107000 people located near the southeast corner of the state of Minnesota in the midwestern United States. In 2013, Rochester's electrical demand required 1225000 MWh.
The city's commitment to transitioning to 100% renewable energy in the electricity, heating/cooling, and transportation sectors by 2031 calls for several actions to support the 100% renewable goal: Prioritizing energy efficiency, electrifying the heating/cooling and transportation sectors, maximizing citizen participation and development of new business models, educating the community, and adopting an integrated approach to energy, economic, and infrastructure policy
Further information:
The Town of East Hampton, New York is located in Suffolk County on the eastern end of Long Island's South Shore and has a population of just over 21500 people. Annual electricity consumption of 310000 MWh is needed for the Town of East Hampton. A 2012 study commissioned by Renewable Energy Long Island, the Long Island Clean Electricity Vision, found that Long Island could generate 100% of its electricity from renewable and carbon-free sources.
The Town of East Hampton is also committed to advancing its energy sustainability goals through energy efficiency and renewable energy called âD.R.E.A.M. Plan,â or Decentralized Resilient Energy Assessment and Management plan, which was a draft Climate Action Plan released in October 2015.
Further information:
The city of Georgetown is located in central eastern Texas.
According to city representatives, the city has a population of 54256
citizens (2015), approximately 50000 of whom are exclusively served by
the city's municipal utility. Texas (State) invested $7 billion in a
Competitive Renewable Energy Zone program to all over the state -
including Georgetown to move to renewable energy source.
The peak load power consumption is 145 MW and electricity production is
294 MW of AC (Alternating Current).
Further information:
The City of Burlington with a population of 42282 (2012 U.S. Census Bureau) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont.
The power mix for Burlington - a city that once relied on coal and reached an almost 50% renewable energy portfolio in 2011:
The city also approved a 11.3 million funds to be used for energy efficiency - approximately $30 million has been invested in BED's energy efficiency efforts over the last 19 years.
Further information:
This partly self-sufficient multifamily house in Wilhelmshaven, Niedersachsen, Germany includes 6 apartments with a size of ca. 90 mÂČ each. The house was completed at the end of 2018 and reaches a degree of self-sufficiency of about 65% in terms of electricity & heat. In the first year of operation, the total energy demand was 36579 kWh (20475 kWh heat, 16104 kWh electricity). The yield generated with the solar energy systems listed below amounted to 37964 kWh (22152 kWh heat, 15812 kWh electricity). Thus, more energy was generated than consumed, due to the temporal offset of generation and consumption, this resulted in a degree of self-sufficiency of "only" 65%.
Furthermore, the house has a very well insulated building envelope to minimize heat loss, the kitchen was equipped with energy efficient appliances and there is a possibility of transferring electricity and heat surpluses to the neighboring buildings. Tenants pay a flat rate of 10.50 âŹ/mÂČ which integrates the energy costs. However, if more than 3000 kWh/a of electricity or 100 mÂł/a of water are consumed, additional costs are incurred. The tenants have the possibility to inform themselves about their energy consumption on an ongoing basis.
Further information:
In June 2016, the world's first energy self-sufficient, purely solar-powered multifamily house was occupied for the first time. The house is located in BrĂŒtten, ZĂŒrich, Switzerland and includes 9 apartments. The house does not have any elecrtical or thermal grid connection. In order to achieve complete self-sufficiency, various types of energy storage systems are integrated into the house.
The photovoltaic system was initially operated as a stand-alone
system. Later, the possibility was created to feed energy into the
grid, because in summer too much energy is produced to be able to store
it completely.
In addition to the energy storage and generation systems, the house has
several features to increase energy efficiency. For example the highly
efficient thermally insulated building envelope, the equipment of the
apartments with energy-efficient household appliances (e.g.:
refrigerator, washing machine), or the lighting with state-of-the-art
LED technology.
Further information:
Neustadt is a quarter with about 4200 inhabitants in the city
Moosburg, Bayern, Germany. The quarter includes 740 buildings whereof
693 are households and 47 other buildings, which demand about 7 GWh/a
electricity and 35 GWh/a heat.
The goals include increasing electricity production from renewables to
< 0.5% wind, 7% biomass, 30% PV and 116% water and to increase or
decrease the heat production from renewables to < 0.5% biomass for
heating plants, < 0.5% waste heat, < 0.5% geothermie near
surface, 10% solar thermal, 1% ambient air and 5% biomass for small
combustion systems.
In addition a catalog of measures and a sample renovation schedule
is/was developed. If the PV potential is fully exploited it would be
possible to generate about 11 GWh of renewable electricity which could
also cover an increased electricity requirement e.g. for
Electromobility in the balance sheet. Due to the savings potential
through building renovation, the heat requirement can be reduced by
around 60%, of which around half should be generated locally from
renewable sources.
Evaluation of the information: In the field of renewable energies,
the Bavarian Energy Atlas shows Moosburg has an electricity generation
quota of 124%. This means that more electricity is currently being
generated renewable in Moosburg than is consumed locally.
In contrast, heat generation is still mainly based on fossil fuels. The
Energy Atlas Bavaria shows a share of renewable energies in the heat
supply in Moosburg from 10%, which is mainly realized in small
combustion systems. Even if every expansion plan is realized and
therefore the share of renewables will grow to about 16% of today's
production and all renovation plans succeed, the heat demand will not
be supplied fully by renewables unless heat pump technologies with high
efficiency powered by solar electricity are used. This would probably
stand in contrast to using the excess electricity from PV for
Electromobility.
In addition it seems that there are no explicit plans for the mobility
sector besides the already mentioned one.
Further information:
The "Holzmarkt am Spreeufer" is a quarter in Berlin, Germany with an
estimated electrical demand of 3.8 Mio. kWh/a, a demand of 3.3 Mio
kWh/a heat and 1.1 Mio kWh/a cold. At the moment a biogas plant
produces heat and electricity. It also provides electricity for a
chiller system. The other electrical demand is provided as green
electricity by NATURSTROM AG.
The primary goal of the quarter is to become self-sufficient in terms
of electricity, heat and cold and in addition have zero CO2 emission.
This should be achieved by PV-systems on rooftops, solar- and
geothermal systems, at least another BHKW and high-efficient and low
emission wood chip heating plants. In addition heat pump- and storage
technologies should be implemented as well as an expandable local
heating (70°C) and cold (6°C) network.
Evaluation of the information: The information available appears
incomplete and possibly out of date (2016). For example, there is a
lack of PV potential analyzes that allow conclusions to be drawn about
excess electricity that is sufficient to supply the electromobility
sector with energy.
As a result of the inadequate energy balances and the fact that there
is seemingly no current data regarding energy or the progression of the
project, it can not be rated positively (the project may have served
more image purposes).
Further information:
Möckernkiez is a quarter in Berlin-Kreuzberg, Germany with a total area of 42749 mÂČ of which are 35659 mÂČ for living, there are 14 residential buildings in Passive house standard. All in all The quarter consists of 471 apartments + business. The annual demand for electricity is about 1.5 MWh and for heat 2000 MWh.
Evaluation of the information: Although the information available
seem incomplete regarding if or how much renewable sources cover the
electrical and/or the heat demand and in addition there are no further
informations on the amount of biogas needed to guarantee the supply or
where the biomass comes from, it seems that this project is on a good
way. The fact that in 2018/19 new electric charging stations were
installed seems to indicate that the concept works and there is enough
renewable electricity to supply these stations completely with green
electricity as the operator Naturstrom AG promises.
Therefore one can assume that the electricity and heat demand are or
will be mostly covered by renewables and just the mobility sector needs
further improvement. Due to the lack of complete and more current data
this assumption can not be proven right at the moment.
Further information:
Dörpum is a quarter in Bordelum, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany with
around 500 inhabitants in 120 households. The goal is to strengthen and
further develop existing structures of renewable electricity or heat
production, storage and distribution in combination with virtual power
plants. Another priority is price stability for citizens in all sectors
(electricity, heat, mobility), as well as a continuous reduction of CO2
emissions. Therefore the ARGE Energie Dörpum on behalf of the âAmt
Mittleres Nordfrieslandâ created an integrated neighborhood concept
called âSchaufenster Dörpumâ. In this report the current situation
(date of report: 2018) is analyzed and framework conditions,
prerequisites and possible measures presented. For example
electrolyzers should be installed on a wind turbine that drops out the
EEG order in 2021. This would provide an additional source of heat for
feeding into the Dörpum heating network with approx. 50kW. The gas from
the electrolysis is to be delivered to an H2 filling station for use in
local public transport.
The 51 PV systems in Dörpum town center already supply (2018) approx.
45% of the electricity consumed in the neighborhood physically and
directly without intermediate storage. Additional electrical consumers
will be electric vehicles. Both in the public areas of the neighborhood
as well as in private households. Charging points for electric cars can
be expected in the near future. Stakeholders in the community are
already planning e-mobility car sharing. If 20% of the kilometers
driven were electric, approx 55.4 MWh of electrical consumption would
be added, which corresponds to about 1% of the current annual
electrical energy production of the biogas plant or an increase in
consumption of about 8%.
According to DWR eco, the special features of the project in
Bordelum-Dörpum include a small "private grid" that serves as a test
field for various technical, economic and organizational concerns with
regard to the feed-in of renewable energies into regional grids. From
this, important insights can be gained into the necessary framework
conditions, infrastructural measures and possible obstacles to the
upcoming energy transition.
Among the greatest challenges are the regionalization of the power
supply within the framework of a planned municipal utility and the
associated networking of consumers and generators. In addition, the
already well-networked heat supply would have to be expanded even after
the EEG subsidy phase, as well as the energetic refurbishment of the
building stock would have to be continued. Regional value creation will
also be supported by laying the foundation for the post-EEG operation
of wind and solar in power-to-X plants.
Evaluation of the information: According to the final report on the
creation of an integrated neighborhood concept and articles about the
project, a fully self-sufficient energy supply appears not only
realistic, but within reach; as the reports and articles are not
completely up to date, there is a possibility that by today (2021) this
goal has been achieved.
In this case, Dörpum represents an excellent example of the energy
transition, or to quote project inspirer Hans-Josef Fell, President of
the Energy Watch Group:
"The project in Dörpum proves that self-produced, renewable energy not
only works on balance sheet, but now also in real time, locally and
reliably, enabling 100 percent energy supply."
Further information:
The quater "Am Aawasser" consists of 3 multifamily houses including 26 apartments in total. It is located in Buochs, Nidwalden, Switzerland. According to current sources, the degree of self-sufficiency is about 90%.
There is a e-car charging station at each parking lot belonging to the quater. The residents also have the possibility to borrow one e-car. The number of e-cars available should increase in the future as demand grows. The main goal of the quater is to achieve complete self-sufficiency. Among other things, a fuel cell was planned for this at the beginning, but this has not yet been installed.
Further information:
The Eco-Energy-Land is a region situated in the south-east of Burgenland, Austria. It includes 19 municipalities with a total of about 18100 inhabitants, of which GĂŒssing is the largest. In 2016, 547266 MWh of energy was consumed in the EEL, of which 296556 MWh were used in the heat sector, 79400 MWh in the electricity sector, and 171310 MWh in the transport sector. The energy generation within the EEL is based only on renewable energy plants. Thus, in 2016, a total of 134263 MWh were generated, thereof 20% electricity and 80% heat. So just under 25% of the energy consumed in the EEL is covered by local renewable energy sources.
In the past, the region of GĂŒssing mainly relied on the energetic use of wood biomass, as this resource is widely available. The aim was to boost the region's economy and increase regional value creation, as the region was one of the poorest in Austria at the beginning of the 1990s. This was noticeable in the form of a high unemployment rate, emigration rate and capital outflow. However, this strategy was only temporarily successful. In the meantime, 98% of the heat demand and 150% of the electricity demand could be covered. As the national (and also the EU) strategy has moved away from the use of biomass for energy supply and state subsidies have thus been suspended, biomass use has been reduced again. Today, efforts are being made to focus more on photovoltaics and biogas, as these technologies also have a relatively large potential in the EEL. The goal is to become independent of fossil energy imports and to obtain renewable energy from the regionally available resources.
Further information:
This community consists of 137 cities and communities of which 75%
have under 500 inhabitants. The âRhein-HunsrĂŒck Kreisâ is located in
Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany and has a total number of inhabitants of
around 103000. The goal is to have zero emission, including traffic and
waste, and therefore becoming a reference region for sustainability.
One key aspect is to convert energy import costs into regional jobs and
value creation through energy efficiency and renewable energies.
Currently the regional value added from the operation of the RE plants
in the district already amounts to 50 million ⏠per year. The
municipalities are debt-free and currently have âŹ99 million in liquid
funds in cash reserves, which is probably unique for Rhineland-Plant.
At the end of 2018, 276 wind turbines with a capacity of 722 MW are in
operation in the county (mostly on land owned by municipalities),
generating electricity for more than 300000 households. In addition
local communities receive around 7.2 million ⏠in annual wind lease
income for 20 years. The citizens should be actively involved in the
energy transition, which is why a solar register for
Rhineland-Palatinate was published in 2010 and the goal was set to
equip 1000 roofs with PV systems. From a total of approx. 80000 roof
surfaces in the district 58600 are suitable. Here almost the entire
electricity demand of the RHK that is 484 million kWh per year (2017)
could be covered. The share of renewable electricity in the district
was around 310% at the end of 2019 based on 2017 electricity
consumption.
A surplus of energy is deliberately generated so that rural areas
function as "energy growers" for surrounding large cities. Surplus
electricity is transported to the three surrounding electricity sinks
by means of three distribution network levels, so that the "last kWh"
is purchased no later than 60 km outside the district.
Smart operators are to be used to better exploit the potential of
renewable energies locally and to balance grid loads. Following
suggestions from citizens, more of these cells are to be used in the
region in order to realize a swarm power storage system. The total
budget for this so-called "energy honeycomb" of around âŹ7 million is
being borne by Innogy/Westnetz. The heart of the project is a large
battery with 2.5 MW power and 4 MWh capacity, which was inaugurated in
2018. In 2005, the first wood chip heating system in a school replaced
60000 liters of heating oil equivalent per year. By means of three
local heating networks, 37 mainly municipal large buildings are heated
with high-quality processed tree and shrub cuttings from the citizens,
saving 800000 liters of fuel oil imports per year without affecting the
local firewood market. Today, thanks to 17 local heating associations,
a total of 2.7 million liters of fuel oil imports are avoided.
In general, the approach is to solve energy problems regionally, then
supraregionally, then nationally. One approach of the RHK is, for
example, the installation of battery storage systems in households with
PV and a local electricity trade to store excess wind power and to
bridge the winter gap of PV systems. With the winter surplus production
of a wind turbine, the winter gap of prospectively 1000 households
could be covered.
So-called prosumers, which both draw energy and generate it, e.g. by
means of PV, can stabilize the power grid in the future, especially in
connection with e-mobility. According to Mr. Uhle, bidirectional
charging has the potential to become a gigastorage system in which
30000 commuters with e-cars with e.g. 40 kWh batteries form a 1.2 GWh
swarm power plant. Car owners set how much capacity they need, while
the rest is made available to the swarm storage, for which the car
owner receives compensation; however, this is only a concept so far.
However, e-car owners are already driving with certified green
electricity at one-third of the cost of ownership, or one-fourth for
self-generated electricity.
Evaluation of the information: In the electricity sector the
Rhein-HunsrĂŒck-Kreis not only achieved the goal of self sufficiency,
but surpassed it by far and has become an âenergy growerâ. By seeing
energy not just as something necessary, but as a resource that can be
"harvested" and sold, it was possible to turn the challenge of the
energy transition into a kind of business model from which those
involved, in this case the residents of the district, benefit directly
and not least financially. Local support programs such as free energy
consultations, LED changeover days or subsidies for balcony
installations can thus allow even low-income earners to participate in
the energy transition.
The mobility sector is still the biggest problem at the moment.
According to Mr. Uhle, emissions have actually increased compared to
the 1990s. Since there are a lot of "stationary vehicles", more car
sharing concepts need to be developed.
Heat is primarily generated using biomass, which feeds local heating
networks that have recently been supplemented by solar thermal energy.
Unfortunately, no figures are available for this; according to Mr.
Uhle, however, the biomass power plants can remain completely switched
off in the summer.
Further information:
"Wildpoldsried - Das Energiedorf" is located in the AllgÀu in Bavaria, Germany. The village has a population of approx 2500 and had an electric power consumption of 5983 MWh in 2019, while 49343 MWh were produced.
The wind turbines belong to the citizens, 2 of them are intercommunal. The village considers installing an own power grid in the future. They also want to develop concepts for further storage facilities (heat & electricity).
Further information:
The "Energieautarke Dorf Feldheim" is a small village with about 130 inhabitants in Brandenburg, Germany. The village includes 37 households, 3 farms, 2 commercial units, and 2 municipal units, which are supplied with self-produced energy through separate distribution grids for electricity and heat.
The village has a charging station for electric vehicles. Otherwise, no measures have been initiated in the transport sector so far. In the electricity and heat sectors Feldheim is self-sufficient. For the future, it is planned to be able to produce green hydrogen and to implement a mobility concept with the county.
Further information:
Alheim is a settlement in Hessen, Germany with 10 quarters and about
5000 inhabitants. A guiding principle of sustainable energy security
was developed for the municipality of Alheim, according to which 80% of
the energy consumed is also generated again in the municipality by the
year 2015. This goal has been achieved with over 111%, because already
now these measures ensure that over 7.5 million kWh of the
electricity/energy consumed in the households of Alheim are
arithmetically produced again in Alheim via renewable energies (about
63% of demand). The settlement also has 5 charging stations for
vehicles which are 100% supplied by solar power.
Alheim relies fully on solar energy with the assistance of energy
generation through biomass and renewable raw materials. The latter
mainly in the form of wood which is more than plentiful in the densely
wooded region, but also other renewable energy materials such as straw
and other agricultural products which could be waste products or
produced for energy production; this could also secure the economic
existence of farmers in the region.
The municipality of Alheim will create the framework conditions that
make this independent energy supply and production possible, because
this is also an important accent for the business location of Alheim.
Low economic and energy costs lead to the fact that this is evaluated
as an important pro-argument for enterprises which are willing to
settle. Only in this way jobs can be created and young families could
also consider the communities in the Pro Region mittleres Fuldatal to
be extremely attractive and move there.
Although Alheim mainly focuses its efforts in the electricity sector
there are plans for the heat sector. At the moment the heat demand for
residential buildings is covered by about 34% renewables (thermal solar
energy, heat pumps, biogas, wood) which should be increased to 56%, 67%
or 77% based on the future scenario under consideration of the project
carrier.
The "Energy Self-Sufficient Settlement" project is being carried out by
the University of Kassel. Funding sources for the project are the
inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology AG and the Hessian Ministry
of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development.
Evaluation of the information: Alheim was already awarded the
European 100% RES Communities Label in 2014. This identifies
communities and regions, pursues a political vision and the goal to
achieve a 100% renewable energy supply based on essential strategies
and measures.
As far as the electricity sector is concerned, Alheim has obviously
already achieved the goal of self-sufficient and renewable supply. Even
if the share of renewable generation in the heating sector is still too
low, the forecasts and scenarios show that the municipality of Alheim
is on a very good path.
Further information:
This climate commune is a municipality in NRW, Germany with about
7000 inhabitants. The core project for achieving the climate protection
targets is the Saerbeck Bioenergy Park (BEP), which has been under
construction since 2011. The 90-hectare site of a former munitions
depot is now equipped with biogas-, photovoltaic and wind power plants
which produce over 275% renewable electricity for the community. Adding
every renewable source like PV-systems on private and public buildings
would increase the quotient to about 400%. Another component are
several projects for the storage of regenerative energies.
The depot was acquired by the community and remains in municipal
ownership. The bioenergy park is a citizen energy park: all plants for
the production of regenerative energies are supported by investments of
citizens and local project partners, which benefit twofold from the
regenerative energy production on site: both through security of supply
as well as through financial participation. The extensive northern area
of the park shows that climate protection and nature conservation are
not mutually exclusive. It covers 25 hectares and is not freely
accessible. All infrastructure is being dismantled here and nature left
to its own devices. Only the biological station of the Steinfurt
district offers guided tours of this valuable biotope.
The PV Power Park has been June 2012 and has been and since August 2012
the generated electricity into the grid with an electrical power of
5.74 MWp. Together with the 0.29 MWp on the roofs of the administrative
buildings, enough electricity was produced in 2013 to supply around
1600 households per year and save around 3500 tons of CO2. The
electricity fed into the grid is treated according to the EEG
(Renewable Energy Act) as a free-standing plant. 63% of the plant was
financed by the citizens' cooperative "Energy for Saerbeckâ and 37% by
investors. The citizens' cooperative is also the operator of the plant.
The biogas plant in the bioenergy park has been on the grid since 2012
and generates electricity from the fermentation of the renewable raw
materials into biogas in two combined heat and power plants (CHP) with
a capacity of 526 kW electric each. With 8400 full load hours 8.7
million kWh/a of electricity are generated, which could supply approx.
2500 households and save around 4500 tons of CO2per year. The heat of
the one CHP unit is fed back into the process, the heat from the other
is used to dry the fermentation used. In the drying plant up to 6000
tons of agricultural products can be dried with the regenerative heat
and reused as fertilizer. The biogas plant is operated by Saergas GmbH
& Co. KG. This is an association of 15 Saerbeck farmers, one farmer
each from Greven and from Lengerich, and the biogas plant specialized
company EnviTec Biogas AG.
Since the fall of 2013, 7 wind turbines have been generating the
majority of the electricity in the bioenergy park with an electrical
output of around 3 MW each or a total of 21 MW at peak times. This
means that arithmetically approx. 14300 households can be supplied and
around 17000 tons of CO2 can be saved.
One of the first local climate protection projects to be implemented
was the Glass Heating Center, which went into operation back in 2010
and supplies the school and sports center and other buildings with hot
water via a local heating network. The heat required for this is
generated sustainably with wood or, more precisely, wood pellets whose
calorific value is 5.2 kWh/kg. The CO2 savings from the heating center
amount to about 420 tons per year.
A local heating network is fed by the two pellet boilers, operated with
wood and a combined heat and power plant. The heat transfer medium in
the piping system is 21000 liters of water, which is heated to approx.
80 °C. On return to the heating center, the temperature of the water is
around 60 °C. The line losses are only 0.8 to 1°C. The heat generated
and transported, depending on the weather, is approximately 2132000 kWh
per year, almost equal to the total heat demand for 2019 mentioned in
the energy report.
In the e-mobility sector, the climate community of Sarbeck is initially
focusing on a car-sharing project. Here, people can borrow a Renault
Zoe, a compact-class electric car, for the weekend to try out electric
driving for themselves, free of charge. The requirements: All Saerbeck
citizens and all members of the Förderverein Klimakommune Saerbeck are
eligible to borrow a car. Minimum age: 23 years (at least two years of
driving license possession). Anyone who has acquired a taste for
e-mobility after a test weekend or is interested in e-mobility in
general can take part in the e-mobility regulars' table organized by
the association. Every six weeks, electric car drivers and those who
want to become one meet here to exchange experiences and information.
Evaluation of the information: With the power grid in municipal
hands there are excellent prerequisites created for energy
self-sufficiency. Moreover in the heat sector a majority of energy is
already produced locally and sustainable. To increase this rate even
further currently other energy sources are searched and project ideas
are collected as said by Guido Wallraven the current climate manager of
Saerbeck. For example there are studies investigating Hydrogen as heat
perspective for the region. Besides new not exactly quantified PV
plants on household roof-tops there are new wind turbines in the
bioenergy park which were put into operation in 2018, so the ratio of
renewable electricity is about 450% of the demand.
According to Guido Wallraven the transformation in the mobility sector
is the most difficult; every inhabitant has to be convinced, but
interfering with habits scares many people. Nevertheless, due to events
like the e-mobility regulars' table and many others which let residents
participate and join the discussion, suggests that the full acceptance,
advocacy and support of the population is only a matter of time.
Therefore the only main problems remaining are regulations, laws and
lack of funding that can complicate, slow down or even stop project
implementation.
Further information:
Pellworm is an isle-community with about 1250 inhabitants in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The developed island vision (Sustainable Pellworm 2027) consolidates the realization that every contemporary development has to be sustainable and the CO2-neutral heat supply possibility of individual quarters and districts should be worked out. In this context, energy supply and mobility should be economical, safe, cooperative and sustainable. The basis and the guideline for various measures in harmony with the big picture was already formed by the Master Plan 2020, which was created in 2010 by the graduate geographer Rosa Hemmers (SynergieKomm). The Masterplan 2020 defined goals to reach until 2020 which contains for example increasing the renewable electricity production to 69000 MWh/a, heat production to 4300 MWh/a and reducing the energy demand in all areas by 30% and the use of oil by 50%. In 2020, this master plan was evaluated in a new contract and the update until 2030 was commissioned. It turned out that the island is not only arithmetically energy self-sufficient but also forms an energy sink to a large extent. Pellworm is not only striving for climate neutrality, it is also well advanced in this direction according to the community website. Other sources state that the project has failed. The problem was that even if Pellworm produces more energy than demanded the storages are not big enough to guarantee a power supply at any time. The additional investment costs could not be covered by any of the worked out models and so self sufficiency could not be achieved and E.on closed the project.
Evaluation of the information: Some of the data and information presented by the municipality are somewhat older and do not match the statements of other sources, which makes it difficult or impossible to make an assessment of the project with the available information. Nevertheless, all sources agree that more than sufficient electricity can be generated regeneratively. However, a renewable energy supply cannot be implemented economically at this time due to the lack of suitable or sufficient storage options. In summary, it can probably be said that Pellworm is a prime example of the biggest problems of the energy transition and shows the discrepancy between theoretical or balance sheet and real self-sufficiency (in the electricity sector).
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