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TECHNOLOGYSPOTLIGHT

Advances in technology across industry

New technologies for energy storage

Construction has begun on the modular largescale battery storage system M5BAT on the premises of RWTH Aachen University. Storage systems like this represent an important building block for the expansion of renewable energies, as they make a significant contribution to system stability. They also open up a broad range of areas of application. The planned power class of five megawatts and the high level of modularity – whereby different battery technologies are combined with one another – make the so-called ‘M5BAT’ (Modular Multimegawatt, Multitechnology Medium-Voltage Battery Storage System) a world first.

“As part of its innovation activities, E.ON is investing in a broad spectrum of future technologies for energy storage. Large battery storage systems are particularly interesting thanks to their flexible possibilities for use. The findings expected from M5BAT are of value for the entire energy industry, particularly as a means of support on the path towards low-CO2 power generation,” explains Bernhard Reutersberg, chief markets officer on the E.ON board of management. Visit: www.eon.com

ATR’s ‘green’ flying demonstrator takes off

The ‘green’ ATR 72 prototype has made the first flight of the ‘Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative (CS JTI)’ test campaign. The Clean Sky goal is to achieve major steps towards the ACARE Environmental Goals for 2020 when compared to 2000 levels: 50% reduction in CO2 emissions, 80% cut in NOx emissions and halving of noise pollution. The project is financed 50/50 by the aeronautical industry and by the European Union.

Towards the end of the year, a second flight test campaign will be checking out improvements to the electrical distribution, energy dispersal and the air conditioning systems. The improvements being jointly developed and tested on the ATR today will eventually benefit all regional aircraft tomorrow.

Carmine Orsi, ATR’s senior vice-president Engineering was delighted by this first flight of the ‘Clean Sky’ project. “The ATRs already enjoy a worldwide reputation for the low gas emissions due to their low fuel consumption and structural efficiency with large use of composite material on primary structures. Today, we are going further by using one of our aircraft to test the fruit of several years of joint work with the researchers, which should enable us to be even greener in the future.” Visit: www.atraircraft.com

Audi e-gas plant stabilises electrical grid

The Audi e-gas plant in the city of Werlte in Lower Saxony produces CO2 neutral fuel, and it also contributes toward stabilising the public power grid. After successfully completing a test sequence, the plant is now qualified for participating in what is known as the electricity balancing market.

In the German electrical energy mix, the share of renewable energies is growing rapidly – this share already reached 33% in the first half of 2015. However, regional expansion of wind and photovoltaic generation plants leads to increasingly larger load fluctuations – it is therefore important to have flexibly available consumers such as the Audi e-gas plant to buffer load peaks and thereby stabilise energy grids.

The power-to-gas plant in Werlte, which produces synthetic methane (Audi e-gas) from water and CO2 utilising wind-generated electricity, was launched in 2013. Audi customers can pay with the Audi e-gas card at CNG fueling stations, and Audi then feeds equivalent quantities of e-gas into the German natural gas network. Visit: www.audi.de