Digital energy transition

Security in the smart grid

A digital energy transition: from 2017, smart metering systems will gradually provide a secure link for consumers and producers to the smart energy grid. The federal cabinet decided this today by adopting the draft Act on Digitisation of the Energy Transition.

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direct view

Energy-efficient building renovation

The heat transition is making progress

In 2014, households in Germany consumed 2.7 per cent less energy for heating than in the year before. Buildings continue to offer potential for higher energy efficiency: most of the housing in Germany has only been partly modernised, if at all.

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Electric Mobility

Simple recharging

The roadside recharging points at which electric cars refuel have become a familiar sight in many places around Germany. The system is to be made simpler: soon, uniform socket standards will apply to all publicly accessible recharging points in Germany.

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Storage

Smart re-use

On 3 November, State Secretary Uwe Beckmeyer laid the foundation stone for the world’s largest "second use" energy storage facility. The unit recycles batteries from electric vehicles and is designed to offset fluctuations in the grid - a flagship project for the efficient energy transition.

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Grids

"Ultranet" is making progress

An important step forward for Germany’s first DC connector: the transmission system operators Amprion and TransnetBW have signed the contract for planning and constructing the converters for the ULTRANET direct current project.

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Wind power

An impressive nacelle test rig

In this lab, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology is setting new standards for the testing of nacelles for wind turbines. In an area only the size of half a football pitch, it simulates the grid capacity needed to supply a small town.

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Hermann Albers, President of the German Wind Energy Association

Quote of the week

"We are now seeing electricity providers relying on low-cost green electricity and providers passing on the falling market prices to their customers. So this is a good time to check out what’s on offer."

Hermann Albers, President of the German Wind Energy Association

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