Integrated Energy: Connecting Energy Systems & Industrial Processes

March 26, 2018

The Integrated Energy Plaza at the HANNOVER MESSE’s Energy show brings together all the key players in the integrated energy business. Energy producers, power grid operators, operators of energy storage systems, stakeholders from the sustainable mobility sector, movers and shakers of digitization – they will all be there. Together, they will explore and showcase the options and opportunities for digitally integrating all of these sectors of the energy industry.

Among these exhibitors will be Germany’s GP JOULE GmbH , a renewables-sector company with a truly holistic approach. GP Joule builds and operates solar and wind plants, but takes it a step further by using PEM electrolysis to convert renewably generated power into hydrogen for use in electric vehicles, manufacturing and other sectors. This is energy sector integration – a way of making renewable energy available efficiently, and cost-effectively for use at all scales in all sectors. The key to energy sector integration is to have customer-friendly charging infrastructure, intelligent charging management systems, automated billing and payment systems, and integration of generation and storage assets into virtual power plants. “As well as solutions for these challenges, we will be using the Energy show to demonstrate the interrelationship between infrastructure and efficient green hydrogen applications, such as in cars, buses, trains and industrial contexts,” said Timo Bovi, GP JOULE’s Director Governmental Relations and Public Affairs.

“The efficient integration of energy systems and industrial processes promises major economic benefits,” commented Matthias Zelinger, Managing Director VDMA Power Systems . “Success in the energy market is about keeping production costs as low as possible – which is why stand-alone plants are increasingly becoming active components of ever more complex integrated energy systems. This is enabled by increasingly data-driven digital monitoring and modeling of energy flows within the integrated energy system as a whole. As the energy market becomes more and more decentralized, we will need innovative technologies which make the energy system more flexible, which intelligently integrate the sectors involved, and which support new market entrants.”

If industrial companies succeed in actively managing energy production, consumption and storage across all energy sources, they will be able to achieve significant energy cost savings by optimizing their operations and systematically avoiding expensive load peaks. What’s more, they will be able to generate additional revenue by marketing their own flexibility (intraday trading, providing short-term balancing energy and system stability services). This presents rich opportunities for all companies involved in the digitization of the energy sector. One such company is Seven2one Informationssysteme GmbH , which will be exhibiting at the Energy show. Seven2one provides software that enables predictive management and optimization of entire integrated energy systems. “We are in the business of enabling the intelligent integration of energy generation, consumption and storage. Our solutions support everything, from data capture to business process optimization to preparing electricity load schedules,” explains Marketing Director Christine Herdt. “Starting with a toolbox of modular components, we develop customized software solutions for integrated real-time energy management.” Seven2one is currently in the midst of a complete restructure of the energy management system at Stuttgart Airport.

The Stuttgart project is typical of many other energy management system restructures in that it is aimed at building a future-proof, reliable electrical energy system based on the triple precepts of decentralization, decarbonization and digitization. Achieving this integrated-energy objective requires effective quality assurance of network planning, fault-free network operation and seamless integration of decentralized generation assets – challenges which have occupied many research institutions and companies for many years. FGH GmbH is a case in point. The company is involved in various constituent projects making up a German government-backed development program called “Shop Window for Intelligent Energy – Digital Agenda for the Energy Transition” (SINTEG). The projects that FGH is working on relate to increasing the performance and efficiency of Germany’s overall energy system – a system comprising both central and decentralized generation. Among much else, the researchers at FGH are using grid operation simulation and modeling and grid status determination and assessment to study the behavior of power grid users. Needless to say, they are also looking at integrated energy, which is a highly topical issue in Germany at the moment, given the upcoming reform of the country’s grid connection regulations for renewables as part of European harmonization.

Among many other Energy highlights, the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) will be running a group pavilion and four stand-up workshops with a view to facilitating dialogue between industry representatives from all around the world and the German renewable energy sector. BEE experts will be on hand to answer questions on the energy transition and renewables expansion. They will be using their presence at the show to explore all aspects relevant to achieving a comprehensive renewable energy supply in industrial contexts and to identify the key enablers.