Everything in a state of flux
The Energiewende necessitates the expansion of the grids at all levels and has set in motion the coupling of various different sectors. EnBW has invested heavily in the modernisation of an infrastructure that will stand at the centre of its business in the future.
2012: “Simple” is a thing of the past!
The old energy world was clearly organised – control centres managed large, centralised power plants. The electricity generated in the power plants then flowed through cables to consumers. Decentralised production in wind farms and solar power plants was barely provided for in this system.
2017: Maintaining a clear overview
The situation is different today. The grid needs to be expanded to receive electricity generated at many different locations. The challenge is that there is an increasing amount of “contraflow” on the grid – self-generated electricity is being fed into the grid, while customers draw electricity from the grid at the same time. In order to address this challenge, the company is contributing to the development of smart transformers and smart meters.
The intensive modernisation of the grids is necessary so that more electricity can be fed in from private rooftops. The Group invested around €200 million in the last year alone in the modernisation of the distribution grid at a local level and the strengthening or new construction of long distance connections. Electromobility places further demands on the distribution grid, for example, when a growing number of residents on the same street want to charge their electric cars at the same time. In a number of field tests, EnBW examined the impact of charging behaviour on the electricity grid. In the coming years, the company will once again invest a sum in the three-digit million euro range in electromobility.
Electricity from renewable energies is not just a regional matter. Depending on the demand, it must travel large distances to reach end customers. Therefore, the expansion of the nationwide transmission grids is important. EnBW is participating in the construction of the ULTRANET transmission line via its subsidiary TransnetBW. The construction of a converter on the site of the Philippsburg nuclear power plant that is still in operation is also planned for the same project. Furthermore, TransnetBW is involved in the construction of the SuedLink transmission line.
Alongside reliable energy grids, fast Internet connections are also fundamental for the well-being of a region. The planning, construction and operation of fibre-optic networks is a business field with great potential for the future. We laid and placed into operation 450 kilometres of fibre-optic cables for our telecommunications subsidiary NetCom BW last year alone. NetCom BW provides 43,000 customers with a fast Internet connection. A special project is the construction of a 450 kilometre empty pipe network for 30 local communities in cooperation with the administrative district of Karlsruhe. The EnBW subsidiary Netze BW is responsible for 130 kilometres, of which 80 kilometres are already finished. These empty pipes will form the basis for a future data highway that will connect the communities in the administrative district together. Fibre-optic cables can be blown into the empty pipes later on without having to dig up the roads, paths and squares again.
2020: Networked for the future
In the coming years, EnBW will plan the infrastructure for whole city districts. This includes electricity for the household and electromobility, fast Internet and a modern supply of heating – for example, from combined heat and power blocks that generate electricity from waste heat and work in combination with solar power plants on the roof. The area of transport management is also being expanded, for example, with the monitoring of parking spaces.
2025: A smart grid
Solar power plants, electric cars or smart household devices can overload the grid if they consume or feed in electricity in an uncoordinated way. Therefore, EnBW is developing smart technology to predict when the grid will experience peak loads and to what extent. If there is a danger of the grid being overloaded, the grid operator can reduce feed-ins from solar power plants or charge electric cars more slowly. Electricity storage systems will also help to ease the burden on the grids by storing surplus energy and feeding it back in at a later point in time. An interesting option in the future may also be converting the electricity into gas via electrolysis. The energy can thus be stored in the gas grid. Another approach could be to directly transform the electricity from renewable energies into heating or cooling. This will set in motion the networking of sectors that were previously separate within the energy industry.
A look ahead to the future. Three questions for …
In the past, if more electricity was required, another shovel of coal was simply added at the power plant. This will not be possible in the future. The generation of electricity from the wind and sun is dependent on the weather. The grid of the future will therefore need, on the one hand, a storage system, and, on the other hand, the ability to flexibly adapt consumption to the amount of electricity being generated.
Firstly, the consumption of individual units must be large enough to make flexible management worthwhile. This is the case, for example, for charging stations for electric cars. A smart management system will ensure that the connected batteries are only charged when the grid has sufficient output. A similar principle is conceivable for industrial companies that could use energy management systems to flexibly manage their production plants.
The term “grid” or “network” will have a much broader scope in the future. Flexible consumers require not only electricity but also extensive communication links. The security of the entire IT infrastructure for the energy supply system, as well as the data for individual consumers, is necessary in these networks. In addition, we need to work across sectors if we want to generate 80 % of our electricity from renewable energies in the future. One example of this is heat pumps – which link together the markets for electricity and heating. Electricity can also be transformed into gas via electrolysis and thus stored in a neighbouring grid.
We need to work across sectors if we want to generate 80 % of our electricity from renewable energies in the future.