The funding initiative, called ‘Sustainable power grids’, is an integral part of the 6th energy research program of Germany’s federal government. Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) will be on site at DistribuTECH in San Diego from Jan 29-31 to help highlight the opportunities within these projects.
The next big challenge is to create a power grid that is able to distribute energy more accurately and according to demand, through the use of information and communication technology (ICT).
“The share of energy supply from renewable sources continues to grow,” said Heiko Staubitz of Germany Trade & Invest. “So as to keep these grids operating smoothly, the implementation of ICT during the expansion of renewable energy’s share is paramount.”
Implementation of ICT is a crucial step in Germany’s ‘Energiewende’ as revealed in the ‘E-Energy – Smart Energy Made in Germany’ initiative.
In six pilot projects, different key technologies and business models for an ‘Internet of Energy’ were tried out with varying degrees of success. The savings potential of these so-called ‘Smart Grids’ would lead to a 10 percent saving in household bills and perhaps as much as 20 percent in industrial zones.