Efficient and effective infrastructure will be an important theme for all stakeholders, whether private consumers, industrial customers or local authorities. EnBW is making this kind of intelligently networked infrastructure available to its customers.
We are a strong partner for the careful planning, reliable operation and sustainable development of complex infrastructure. Through the smart networking of our products and services, we ensure, for example, a high level of energy self-sufficiency and mobility within new districts. Carefully planned infrastructure guarantees sustainability and efficiency in the provision of electricity, heating and cooling.
Renewable energies will be integrated into district development locally, regionally and supraregionally to enable a sustainable supply of green energy: The local generation of electricity using combined heat and power plants, solar power plants and biogas plants makes environmental sense. Virtual power plants will handle the marketing of the energy produced.
Ideas for the future
We already embarked on the path to the future long ago with our new products and business models. The following selection of EnBW innovations from the area of renewable energies shows the direction in which we are headed.
EnBW Asset RADAR (Reporting and Data Analytics for Renewables) uses artificial intelligence to identify technical faults on wind power plants at an early stage and helps avoid any subsequent damage. Savings of several millions of euros were achieved using EnBW Asset RADAR in 2018.
Energy supply companies are increasingly dependent on wind and sunshine forecasts due to the expansion of renewable energies. EnBW is participating in an EU project that aims to improve the quality of weather forecasts.
Flying systems could enable the harnessing of upper atmospheric layers with their energy-rich and stable wind speeds for electricity generation. EnBW is participating in a project to develop a fully automated high-altitude wind power plant.
Since the beginning of 2019, the EnBW subsidiary ZEAG has been generating green hydrogen at the “Harthäuser Wald” wind farm. Energiedienst already opened a hydrogen electrolysis plant in Wyhlen that is operated using hydropower in 2018.
The EnBW subsidiary Erdgas Südwest is realising the largest floating photovoltaic power plant in Germany on the Maiwald quarry lake in Renchen. If the green electricity is not consumed on-site at the gravel plant, it flows into the public grid. The operator is thus able to save around 560,000 kg of CO₂ per year.
Floating platforms could be used to exploit the wind power potential in deeper waters. In cooperation with partners, EnBW is developing various different concepts that would be suitable for opening up new international offshore wind energy regions.