Presentation during the final conference of the EUKI project RENALDO – „Rural Development through Renewable Energy Sources” on 1-2 March in Warsaw

Source: Picture from the summary video of the RENALDO conference available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5kv_C6dqJ4&t=131s.

I was invited to present during the results of the comparative study of the Polish-German Energy Platform on energy communities in Poland and Germany.

Organisers of the conference  with the title “Energy cooperatives as part of a sustainable energy transition in rural areas”, were partners of EUKI project RENALDO as well as the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MRiRW), in cooperation with the National Agriculture Support Center Poland (KOWR). The conference concluded the RENALDO project and gathered more than 200 participants.

The event was opened by Ms Anna Gembicka, Secretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms Nathalie Berger, Director for Support to Member State Reforms at the European Commission’s DG REFORM, and Mr Berthold Goeke, Deputy Director-General for National and European Climate Policy, at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. On the first day, participants had the chance to learn about the energy cooperative model and its advantages, and about experience from European energy cooperatives in Italy, Greece, Czech Republic and Germany. The following panel discussion focused on best practices from the RENALDO and involved communities in Poland. Relation from the event can be also found here.

My presentation during the conference, in pdf as well as a video, can be found on the KOWR-website (also other presentations in pdf and as videos are available on the KOWR-website). All presentations and discussions as well as a summary video from the conference, including an short interview with me, are also available on youtube (summary video and whole conference day 1 and day 2).

 

Report on assessing power system adequacy in Germany and Europe

Report written by myself, Dr. Thomas Ackermann and Peter-Philipp Schierhorn from Energynautics, and Anders Hove from GIZ “Assessing power system adequacy in Germany and Europe” was published in March this year. The analysis was published by the German Energy Agency (dena) in the framework of the Sino-German Energy Transition Project led by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) [German Society for International Cooperation] GmbH . The project supports the exchange between Chinese government think tanks and German research institutions to strengthen the Sino-German scientific exchangeon the energy transition and share German energy transition experiences with a Chinese audience.

From the Editorial of the publication:

“The purpose of this report is to explain and illustrate how Germany and Europe are adapting their system assessmentand planning processes to ensure that reliability and energy security are fully compatible with the retirement of conventional coal and nuclear power plant capacity. After all, Germany has one of the most reliable power systems in the world—the most recent system adequacy study for 2030 shows that Germany’s loss-of-load-probability (LoLP) for that year is 20 times safer than the country’s current standard,1even thoughGermanywill shortly phase out its last remaining nuclear plants and most of its coal capacity by the end of the decade. However, since the analysis was based on assumptions derived from past German policy targets that have been changed in the meantime, futureupdatedcapacity adequacy assessments may arrive at slightly different results.”

The report is available on the website of the Sino-German Energypartnership as well as on the dena website.

Chinese translation is available here.

Report on flexibility technologies and measures in the German power system

Report written by myself and Corina Bolintineanu “Flexibility Technologies and Measures in the German Power System” was published in January this year. The analysis was published by the German Energy Agency (dena) in the framework of the Sino-German Energy Transition Project led by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) [German Society for International Cooperation] GmbH . The project supports the exchange between Chinese government think tanks and German research institutions to strengthen the Sino-German scientific exchangeon the energy transition and share German energy transition experiences with a Chinese audience.

Here the Executive Summary of the publication:

“Germany’s goal of climate neutrality is just around the corner. In order to reach it by2045, Germany will need to increase its renewable energy production and,alongwith it, its power system flexibility. For the past decades, solutions have been developed and implemented, such as the establishment of market rules that enable competitionbetween flexibility measures, along with a technology-neutral approach that ensures a broad mix of technologies and participants.

On the way to a power system based entirely on renewable energy, conventional power plants, in particular gas power plants, will continue to play a role. Today, coal-and gas-fired power plants are the mostrelevant source of flexibility in Germany. However, the phase-out of coal-fired power plants by 2038at the latest,and of nuclear power by 2022 will lead to an increased use of other flexibility options.Large-scale batteries, which are a fitting solution for providing primary control energy and for industrial applications, and small-scale batteries,which provideuser-related flexibility in private homeswill play an increasingly important role.

Flexibility will continue to be provided by biomass-and biogas-operated andpumped-storage power plants, currentlythe secondmostimportant source of flexibility. In addition, technological development as well as the phase-outof financial and regulatory barriers, particularly the double burden requiring operators to pay consumer fees twice, may trigger the use of power-to-X technologies, which are not yet widely deployedin Germany.

Price signals on the wholesale market are expected to triggerhigherdemand-side flexibility in the industry and small and medium-sized enterprises. Residential demand-side flexibility will play a greaterrole withthe gradual introduction of intelligent measuring systems (smart meters) and other digital technologies.

Last but not least, system operation regulations will need adjustments in order to increase grid flexibility.

The report provides a detailed overview of the main flexibility technologiesand measures in the German power system. While it reflects the status quo, it alsoindicatesneedsfor thedevelopment ofthe power system to reach climate neutrality and providesvaluable input for ongoing policy debates.”

The report is available on the website of the Sino-German Energypartnership as well as on the dena website.

In eigener Sache: Bitte um Unterstützung meiner Petition für die sofortige Öffnung der Schulen in Berlin

Ich fordere den Berliner Senat auf, zu einer Politik zurückzukehren, die das Kindes- und Jugendwohl zur höchsten Priorität hat. Herr Müller und Frau Scheeres:

– Öffnen Sie die Schulen, zumindest solange andere Mittel zu Pandemiebekämpung noch nicht ausgeschöpft wurden, wie z.B. eine Pflicht zum Home-Office, massive Erhöhung der Gehälter im Pflegebereich, eine kurzfristige Umschulung der Pfleger für die Arbeit auf den Intensivstationen, Beseitigung von Fehlanreizen in der Finanzierung der Krankenhäuser (Fallpauschalsystem). Viele Maßnahmen zur Pandemiebekämpfung waren in den letzten Monaten in kurzfristigen Verfahren per Verordnung umsetzbar, die Einführung von neuen Maßnahmen dürfte also schnell und unproblematisch sein.

– Erkennen Sie an, dass sich der reguläre Schulstoff nur unter den Bedingungen eines normalen Schulbetriebs vermitteln lässt, insbesondere angesichts der versäumten Digitalisierung des Unterrichts.

– Erkennen Sie an, dass Bildungsgerechtigkeit unter Bedingungen der Pandemie nicht nur möglich, sondern auch absolut notwendig ist.

Herr Müller und Frau Scheeres: Nehmen Sie Ihre dem Kindes- und Jugendwohl schadende Entscheidung über die erneute Verschiebung der Wiederaufnahme des Schulbetriebs nach den Weihnachtsferien zurück und ermöglichen Sie den Kindern und Jugendlichen einen uneingeschränkten Schulbesuch!

Hier der Link zu meiner Petition: http://chng.it/KDWSN75D8x

Book chapter on wind energy use and landscape debates in Poland and Germany (in German)

My book chapter “Windenergienutzung und Landschaftsdebatten – Erfahrungen aus Polen und Deutschland” [Wind energy use and landscape debates – experiences from Poland and Germany], written together with Antje Otto and Andrzej Ancygier, has been published in the book “Kulturlandschaften in Deutschland und Polen. Akteure und Modi ihrer Konstruktion und Narration” [Cultural landscapes in Germany and Poland. Actors and their construction methods and narratives] (2020, pp. 193-215).

The book has been edited by Olaf Kühne, Thomas Strubel, Robert Traba and Marcin Wiatr and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage.