The Unterfränkische Überlandzentrale eG offers its customers a full-service package for a sustainable energy supply. For this, the regional energy cooperative has now been awarded the Bavarian Energy Prize.
Energiegenossenschaft bietet Fullservice-Paket für nachhaltige Energieversorgung.
How can we synchronize the fluctuating energy from regenerative sources, depending on wind and solar radiation, and the equally cyclical energy consumption? This is one of the biggest challenges of the energy transition. The regional energy cooperative Unterfränkische Überlandzentrale eG (ÜZ Mainfranken) would like to offer its customers a holistic solution for this, which it describes in its own words as an "all-round carefree package".
To this end, the energy cooperative has joined forces with local authorities to develop geothermal energy at eight construction sites with 186 building plots. Electric heat pumps provide CO2-free heat for the connected buildings from low-temperature geothermal energy. The heat pumps are switched on when there is a large supply of electricity from renewable sources and switched off when there is a shortage in the electricity system. The "cold heat" comes from geothermal probes up to 100 meters deep in which frost-proof brine circulates as a heat carrier. The geothermal probes are sized to meet 15,000 kWh of heating demand per year.
Regional Energy Cooperative Wins Bavarian Energy Award
Insgesamt wurden neun Projekte mit dem Bayerischen Energiepreis ausgezeichnet.
For its sustainability project "Cold heat supply - giving value to renewable energy", the energy cooperative ÜZ Mainfranken was awarded the Bavarian Energy Prize. "The energy turnaround will only succeed through efficient energy use. We need new ideas on how to control energy use intelligently. "We want an efficient and sustainable energy system from and for Bavaria," said Hubert Aiwanger Bavaria's energy minister at the award ceremony at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg on November 15, 2018.
In addition to the main prize winner, Minister Hubert Aiwanger also honored eight other projects with the Bavarian Energy Award, including in categories such as "Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes", "Buildings" and "Energy Research". The Bavarian Energy Award has been offered and awarded every two years since 1999. The winners are selected by an independent jury of seven energy experts from Bavarian universities in a multi-stage selection process. As a partner of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bayern Innovativ has organized the application process and the award ceremony since the beginning. Learn more about the Bavarian Energy Award.
