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Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster: Hamburg Metropolitan Region harbours massive potential for decentralised energy supply with storage solutions New study

A new study on the status quo and potential analysis of storage technologies, energy infrastructures and load management for businesses in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region

The development of innovative renewable energy projects are taking on central significance in academic institutes and businesses in Hamburg Metropolitan Region, for example the energy campus at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg, HAW) with its grid integration lab, "ideas for thermal batteries" at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg), Vattenfall’s heat storage tanks at Tiefstack for the district heating of Hamburg and electric vehicles in port operations.

This is shown in the outcome of the current study on the status quo and potential analysis of storage technologies, energy infrastructures and load management for businesses in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region published by the Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster. BET – Büro für Energiewirtschaft und technische Planung (office for energy industry and technical planning) from Aachen prepared the analysis.

Hamburg’s Senator for Economic Affairs, Traffic and Innovation, Frank Horch, said, “This study strikingly proves that the whole Hamburg Metropolitan Region has a massive potential for innovative renewable energy projects. That includes a number of new storage possibilities. Altogether these projects form the basis for a complex and intelligent energy system, from which not only the City of Hamburg can profit as a large energy consumer, but the surrounding area also benefits as an energy producer.”

In the study, the Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster for the first time presents a comprehensive inventory of the storage and flexibility projects in the renewable energy sector in the metropolitan region. The study lists a total of 25 industry and pilot projects as well as 34 university research projects. Furthermore, the authors did not only investigate different storage possibilities but also plans to consume energy in a more flexible way (keyword “load management”) in terms of economic aspects over a period from today until 2030. With the results of the study, all energy system stakeholders in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region should become more aware of structuring the energy system more flexibly. The study investigates which technologies are most suitable for urban areas, industrial areas and in rural areas.

The legal provisions for the use of individual flexibility options are very complex and frequently result in measures still being uneconomical today. The study pleads for the further development of the legal framework and the grid usage regulations.In the current energy market, flexibility is of low value. As soon as other plants for the generation of renewable energies, primarily wind energy and photovoltaics, connect to the grid, energy will be more supply-dependant, i.e. it depends of the respective weather conditions. Flexibility in energy consumption will become more important. According to the study, it is vital to convert and/or expand the grid. “The dynamisation of the electricity price components dependant on the electricity exchange prices could represent a possibility to increase the economic incentive for the construction and use of further flexibility options as is suggested in the green paper from the German Federal Ministry for Economic affairs and Energy,” said Oliver Donner from BET.

In the interviews carried out for the analysis, stakeholders from industrial companies categorized themselves as energy consumers and as providers of flexibility options, operators of generation plants, grid operators, energy suppliers, research institutes and universities, private energy consumers and political institutions.

You can view the complete study at:

www.eehh.de/gutachten.html

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