Detractors of renewable energy have always stressed the problems brought on by the inconstancy of wind and sun. At the same time, renewable boosters have stressed how storage and amalgamation of energy from different places can overcome that limitation. Now, a project in Germany is aiming to prove that this can be done. KombiKraftwerk will link 36 different power plants: wind, solar, hydro, and biogas. The pilot project aims to provide just 1/10,000th of German power while proving the concept of a purely renewable grid. To begin with, the system should power about 12,000 homes. The intent is to show that Germany could be powered entirely using renewable energy. Another aspect of the plan is to eventually generate enough energy to power carbon sequestration systems for industries where emissions are inevitable.
Particularly when you include hydro in the mix, maintaining a supply of renewable power that matches the minute-by-minute demand becomes feasible. With any luck, this undertaking will successfully highlight the possibility of moving to a climate-neutral and sustainable system of electricity generation at national scales and above.
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Peak power, storage, and renewables
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Germany Going 100% Renewable (Or Yet Another Reason Why America Is Falling Behind)
German words are great. ‘KombiKraftwerk’ is quite the project name.
Kai is in Denmark, working on switching technologies. Specifically, how mass population electric car charging could be used to balance renewable sources.
Taking Germany 100 percent renewable
German scientists develop Combined Power Plant
Posted by David Roberts at 12:28 PM on 08 Jan 2008
Read more about: energy | renewable energy | Germany
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Via the The Sietch blog, some very, very cool stuff out of the University of Kassel in Germany — the Combined Power Plant:
Kai is in Denmark, working on switching technologies. Specifically, how mass population electric car charging could be used to balance renewable sources.
That approach could have a lot of promise. Electrically charged cars could be controlled so as to manage demand across the day. Cars that actually generate electricity (i.e. fuel cells, if they ever become viable) could actually contribute to the grid at peak times.