Energy systems

Introduction

An increasing environmental awareness, the political dependence on energy imports from politically questionable/unstable regions and the high level of energy prices have created, as a result of government management measures (CEE), markets for energy generation installations, based on renewable energies.

In spite of the current critics of the CEE, one must acknowledge the fact that this promotion, which was targeted at aiding in the breakthrough of “renewable” energy generation systems, was very successful.

The markets, which were created by the stimulus, especially in Germany, were thus able to bring the electricity production costs (LCOE), as a result of the production quantities and level of competition, for the “renewables” even without the stimulus, to the same price as the one of conventional (fossil) generators. This allows now these types of generators to prevail even on the worldwide (unsubsidized) market.

While photovoltaic systems were used in principle only for small, decentralized installations, the wind energy was used almost exclusively by high-tech, complex and large installations. The agreed offshore development continues this development.
The technical problems (onshore) are almost completely solved, but the development faces an increasing resistance of the population. Also, this type of technology, is only partially applicable to developing and emerging countries, since it requires powerful distribution networks and qualified service.

Therefore, there is a high demand for alternatives, for changing to renewable energy.
Decentralized systems can have an essential contribution:

• since they are close to the consumer, they ease the load on the grids
• the distribution of the production capacities within the grid reduces the disturbance vulnerability of the entire system, in case of failure of individual generators

At present, there is a lack of a high-performance small wind generator technology, which is adequate for the decentralized use.

The “Achilles heel” of the “renewables” is the volatility of the energy supply.

The solution is an intelligent combination of different sources, (renewable) regulating energy, modern storage capacities and intelligent system controls. The compensation of seasonal fluctuations in energy supply is essential, amongst others. This is how the yearly profiles of photovoltaic systems and wind energy systems complete each other: in summer a lot of sun, in winter a lot of wind – see diagram.

While the photovoltaic components are available at attractive prices on the market, the automotive industry is working, with a high investment, towards developing the battery technology, the key to a cost-effective, reliable and low- maintenance small wind generator, with a high degree of efficiency, is still missing.

modulbluE will develop and industrialize such a generator installation, whose performance has already been proven in complex scientific examinations.