The energy transition not only requires the construction of new power lines.
The control rooms from which the networks are controlled must also be expanded.
Brauweiler (dpa) - The energy transition is becoming an ever greater challenge for the control of the power grids in Germany and Europe.
The transmission system operator Amprion has therefore invested around 100 million euros in a new network control room in Brauweiler near Cologne, as the company reported.
The main control center (HSL) is "the operating system of the energy transition", said the chairman of the management, Hans-Jürgen Brick.
From Brauweiler, Amprion engineers coordinate the flow of electricity in the entire German power grid.
In addition, the control room is a hub in the European network between Denmark and northern Italy, from northern France to the Czech Republic.
Brauweiler is the largest control room in Europe, said Brick.
Electricity production - electricity consumption
On a more than 100 square meter screen, the engineers can follow the production and consumption of electricity live around the clock.
Amprion relies on artificial intelligence.
Self-learning algorithms evaluated a large number of generation forecasts and used them to create a forecast for electricity production from wind and sun that only deviated 1.5 to 3 percent from actual generation, explained Hendrik Neumann, Head of Technology at Amprion.
The circuit engineers could react "in a matter of seconds", said Neumann.
This was necessary around January 8th, when the stability of the European electricity grid was “on the knife edge” due to a disruption in Croatia.
At that time, the European power grid was temporarily split into two parts.
Amprion coordinated the emergency measures.
The control room is set up in such a way that not only the power grids can be controlled from there.
"With our new HSL, we can connect sectors such as electricity and gas," said Brick.
That is an important contribution to the development of a hydrogen system.
"So we are prepared to coordinate not just the electricity but the energy system."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210617-99-35789 / 3
