E-mobility and smart grids – Siemens to participate in Harz.EE mobility project as technology partner for energy management and battery-charging infrastructure for e-cars, Siemens AG
Release Date: 2009-09-11
Erlangen, 2009-Sep-11
Following the Edison project in Denmark and the RWE car power project, Harz.EE mobility is a further project in which Siemens Energy will participate together with the Siemens research center Corporate Technology as a technology partner for energy management and the setting up of a battery-charging infrastructure for electric cars. The official “Harz.ErneuerbareEnergien mobility” project kickoff took place at the launch event in Halberstadt, Germany on September 7. The project is being implemented by a consortium comprising universities, research institutes and industrial companies. The project will receive backing amounting to twelve million euros up to 2011 from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Reactor Safety. The objective is to ascertain how regional renewables-based power generation can be harmonized with the needs of electric car users.
“Electromobility will become part of our energy supply network. Smart grids will help to increase the share of eco-friendly power generation,” said Uwe Gerecke, CFO of the Medium Voltage Business Unit at Siemens Energy. “A prerequisite is the intelligent coordination of power generation, power distribution and electric vehicles as mobile energy stores. Because electric car batteries can be charged at variable intervals, daily and seasonal fluctuations in the share of renewables in the grid can be better utilized. The overall energy system will thus become more flexible and more eco-friendly.”
Siemens will channel into the Harz.EE mobility project its expertise as one of the leading providers in the field of smart grids. Electric vehicles can be used in a smart grid to balance the fluctuating supply of renewables-based power available on the grid. The vehicles can not only be charged when too much power is available. If required, they can also feed electrical energy into the grid. That will require an ingenious infrastructure for charging electric vehicles. Siemens is currently in the process of elaborating initial concepts. Wind, solar and other alternative energy sources already contribute on average more than half of the power supply in the Harz district. That share is far above the federal German average, which is approximately 15 percent. However, the energy can often not be utilized locally and has to be transported with accompanying losses to other regions. Within the framework of the project electric cars are to be integrated into the power grid in the Harz district, for example, by way of supply services and car sharing models. For this purpose Siemens is developing energy management systems, which can automatically manage large numbers of small energy units, focusing on battery charging stations, the networking of system components and their standardized integration into the smart grid.
The range of today’s electric vehicles does not match that of cars with combustion engines, which means that clever placement of battery-charging stations is necessary. A Siemens energy management system guides car drivers, depending on the battery-charge level of their vehicle, in such a way that they can adapt their route to the location and energy availability of the charging stations. The system must coordinate the eco-friendly energy available in the grid with the network infrastructure and the power needs of the electric cars, and put this to optimum use. The energy management system also helps to integrate the electric cars into the grid and provides the hookup infrastructure for fleets of electric cars, multistory car parks and parking lots.
Universities, research institutes and industrial companies will all work together in the Harz.EE mobility consortium. These include the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg (as project coordinator), the Harz Technical College, Institut für Solare Energieversorgungstechnik (ISET) based in Kassel, Deutsche Bahn, Fraunhofer-Institut für Fabrikbetrieb und -automatisierung IFF in Magdeburg, Vodafone, Siemens, E.ON Avacon, the municipal utilities in Halberstadt, Blankenburg, Quedlinburg and Wernigerode, Regenerativ Kraftwerke Harz, Krebs & Aulich in Derenburg and in.power in Mainz.
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | Siemens AG |
| Country: | Germany |
| Url: | http://w1.siemens.com/press/en/pressrelease/?press=/en/pressrelease/2009/power_distribution/epd200909083.htm |