Siemens and the utility company Allgäuer Überlandwerk (AÜW) in the city of Kempten, Germany, together with the RWTH university in Aachen and Kempten University, are testing a smart grid in the Allgäu village of Wildpoldsried. The joint project IRENE was launched in 2011 and will run for two years.
A smart grid ensures that renewable energies can be better integrated into the grid by permitting a bidirectional flow of energy – from generators to consumers and vice versa – (orange line) and a bidirectional flow of communication (blue line). Whereas in conventional power supply networks generation follows consumption, a smart grid also controls consumption as a function of the availability of electrical energy in the grid.
Germany’s new energy policy – a complex puzzle of measures
Germany’s new energy policy will require a wide range of measures – measures that will have to fit together perfectly like the parts of a puzzle and that Siemens offers and develop: a wide range of competitive renewable energies, power highways and smart grids, energy storage devices and highly efficient solutions for conventional power plants and the energy consumption in buildings, transportation, and industry.
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Offshore WIND staff, June 21, 2012; Image: siemens