ÜZ: New type of battery storage planned for green electricity

02/20/2023

Source: Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy

The expansion of renewable energies and the feed-in and/or Storage of green electricity are high on the agenda of the Free State.

"We are driving everything forward at the same time: photovoltaic and wind power plants to expand, the power grid to further upgrade, build electricity storage and get the hydrogen economy going," explained Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Hubert Aiwanger. On Friday, he visited the energy cooperative ÜZ Mainfranken in Lülsfeld in the district of Schweinfurt at the invitation of State Secretary Anna Stolz, a member of the state parliament from Lower Franconia. For the Minister of State, storage facilities in particular are an important building block for the medium-term use of green electricity that cannot be consumed immediately or fed into the grid. "We need much more storage capacity throughout Germany, and we need it to be open to technology. Green power should flow into batteries, be converted into hydrogen, or be used in pumped storage power plants - all of which is better than shutting down wind and PV plants for a lot of money when there is overproduction. What is being built here in Lülsfeld, we also want to implement in many other regions of Bavaria, if it proves successful. Otherwise, the expansion of renewable energies will be massively slowed down because the expansion of the grids is progressing too slowly and, moreover, does not solve the problem of pushing electricity surplus and into the time windows when little electricity is generated but a lot is needed," explained the State Minister. State Secretary Anna Stolz added: "ÜZ Mainfranken is a prime example of regional, citizen-oriented and decentralized energy supply. This is the only way we can ensure energy security throughout the Free State. ÜZ is firmly rooted in the Lower Franconia region and stands for renewable energy sources and equal living conditions for town and country."

The ÜZ energy cooperative supplies 125,000 people in the Main-Steigerwald region with electricity generated from hydropower, biomass, solar energy and wind power, among other sources. As more green electricity is generated than consumed, ÜZ is planning a new switching station in Brünnstadt and a pilot project for a new type of large-scale storage facility. ÜZ Mainfranken is in contact with the technology company CMBlu Energy from Alzenau, which has developed so-called organic solid flow energy storage. The storage is filled when renewable electricity is abundant and the stored reserves are activated before electricity is drawn from the upstream grid. ÜZ Mainfranken thus becomes a real laboratory for the energy transition. The project is scientifically accompanied by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Zink from the Technical University in Schweinfurt.

Read the full press release here.

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