Real-time Access to German Generation and Consumption of Electricity

You have real-time access to the German generation and consumption of electricity:




Click HERE for the real-time data access.

What happens during a blackout - Comprehensive Report of the German Parliament's study

The OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT AT THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG
published in 20111 a very comprehensive report:

What happens during a blackout - 
Consequences of a prolonged and wide-ranging power outage

"THE COMMITTEE’ S PREFACE
Infrastructures such as a reliable energy supply, functioning water-supply and wastewater-disposal systems, efficient modes of transport and transport routes and also information technology and telecommunications technology that can be accessed at all times represent the lifeblood of high-technology industrialised nations. The Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment therefore commissioned the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB) to investigate the possible effects of a prolonged and widespread power blackout on highly critical infrastructures such as drinking water, wastewater, information and communications systems, financial services and health services, especially against a backdrop where the blackout has a cascading effect spanning state and national boundaries.
In Germany, several recent natural disasters and technical malfunctions (Elbe and Oder floods in 2002/2005, power blackout in the Münsterland in 2005, the Kyrill storm in 2007) have highlighted the population’s dependence on such (critical) infrastructures. Supply bottlenecks, public safety problems and disruptions to road and rail transport have revealed the vulnerability of modern societies and made extreme demands on health, emergency and rescue services...."

Click HERE for the 250 page report [English].
Click HERE for the German version.

The report is one of the best descriptions I have seen. It is really worth to read, to understand and to follow.

If you want to understand what power outages could mean to a society (in a warm region - not in c(o)ld Germany), study the following reports:
Click HERE for the report "Puerto Rico 'heartbreaking' five weeks post-storm"
Click HERE for the report "Puerto Rico Struggles With Power Recovery ..."
Click HERE for further information

I hope something like that will not happen during winter time in Germany.
Note that we have more than natural disasters: Man-made aging infrastructures and aging workforce. 

Interactive Information about German Power Generation, Load and Export/Import

The German regulator of the electric power network has just opened a new website which gives you a deep inside view in power generation, load and export/import.



Graph from the new website.
Click HERE to access the new website.
Enjoy.
This is a very interesting service ... to see what's going on.

Government R&D Funding for German "Energiewende": 400 Million Euro until 2025

The German government has decided recently to fund four (4) huge R&D Energiewende-Projects!
The government published a news report describing the objectives of the Kopernikus projects.
More than 1000 organizations came up with 41 project proposals - four (4) proposals have been awarded to get the funding!

1. Neue Netzstrukturen (new network structures) - Project name: ENSURE.
   Leading organization: KIT (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie)
   Other main organizations: RWTH Aachen, E.ON, Tennet, Siemens and ABB
   Number of partners: 21
2. Speicherung von Überschussstrom (power storage) - Project name: Power-to-X
   Leading organization: RWTH Aachen
   Other main organization: Forschungszentrum Jülich und die DECHEMA
   Number of partners:62
3. Industrieprozesse (industrial processes): - Project name: SynErgie
   Leading organization: Technischen Universität Darmstadt
   Other main organizations: Universität Stuttgart
   Number of partners: 83
4. Systemintegration (system integration) - Project name: ENavi
   Leading organization: Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) Potsdam
   Other main organizations:
   Number of partners: 64

The projects are organized into three (3) phases and run until 2025.
Funding for the first phase (2016-2018) = 120 Million Euro.
Funding for the phase 2 and 3 (2019-2015) = 280 Million Euro.

Click HERE for the government press release [de].
Click HERE for the Kopernikus projects [de].

Video About the German Energiewende

A 11 minute film about Germany’s Renewable Energy Revolution, the so called Energiewende (energy transition) has been published recently.
Voices from science, industry, and politics outline the achievements made so far, next steps, and the opportunities the energy transition offers.

Click HERE to watch the video.

Even the video does not mention IEC 61850 – it is clear that the standard series plays a major role in the future energy delivery in Germany, in Europe and all over!

After the announcement of the White House to spent many Billions of US$ on clean energy, I would not wonder if the German and other governments follow and spent also a lot of Euros and other currencies in the near future.

Hope we have enough well educated engineers to work with the money. If you need good education in the automation of power delivery systems: Here you can get some.