Stadtwerke boss: "The energy transition is being made in the countryside"

Created: 01/20/2022, 16:19

By: Timo Aichele

The photovoltaic system on the roof of the Stadtwerke heating plant in Rinning produces 73,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

In purely mathematical terms, the additional electricity requirement in 2040 would be covered by 550 such systems.

20 times more efficient than biogas plants © Stadtwerke Dorfen

Stadtwerke boss Klaus Steiner sees great challenges for Dorfen in the energy transition, but also opportunities.

Dorfen

- climate neutral by 2040 - this is the goal Prime Minister Markus Söder has set for Bavaria. But he doesn't want more wind power. That is the background to today's eagerly awaited visit by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck to Bavaria. And also the background for the local energy transition. Because climate neutrality also means electrification of society and thus an enormous thirst for electricity. By 2040, power consumption will roughly double, explains Klaus Steiner, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Dorfen. "But the question is: How will generation double?" If coverage were to be provided solely by photovoltaics, this would require an additional 200,000 square meters of solar modules for the municipal area.

Dorfen's electricity production is now 39 million kilowatt hours a year - all from renewable energies: 25 million kilowatt hours of electricity from biogas plants were fed in in 2020, 14 million from photovoltaics and 148,000 kWh from hydropower.

According to these figures, almost 37 million kilowatt hours of electricity were consumed in the same period, 25 million in households and 12 million in business.

"Today, more electricity is generated in Dorfen than we need here," says Steiner.

There are almost 1000 PV systems in the municipal area with a total electrical output of twelve megawatts, open space systems are not among them. This means that solar power has so far only been generated on roofs. "Today, the photovoltaics in Dorfen are hardly noticeable," says Steiner. But for the energy transition, the area with solar modules in Dorfen will have to triple - provided that no wind turbines are approved here and that this increase can be managed from PV alone. At today's performance level of modern solar cells, an area the size of 40 soccer fields is involved.

However, the local experts still see enormous potential on the roofs. "If you were to modernize all the PV systems in Dorfen, the yield would increase by 50 percent," explains Alois Huber, technical director of the municipal utility. “Three times as much would be possible on the roofs here,” he is convinced. This means that the 40 megawatts of electrical power required by 2040 could theoretically be installed without ground-mounted systems. However, it is questionable whether all this potential will be used.

And solar power can only be part of the solution anyway, says Steiner, referring to the "dark doldrums in November and December".

Even at night, a PV system does not produce.

That could be one of several functions of biogas plants.

However, photovoltaics is much more efficient in terms of surface area.

"On one hectare, I can generate 20 times the amount of electricity with photovoltaics than with biogas," says Huber.

Steiner is also honorary chairman of the Association of Bavarian Energy and Water Management (VBEW).

On behalf of the association, the independent research company for the energy industry (FfE) prepared a study that clearly shows the need for action in Bavaria.

Steiner announced that the results would be broken down by district over the course of this year.

Because Söder's ambitious announcement is missing the crucial point: "What he didn't say: What do we have to do?" The FfE study answers that.

According to her, from now until 2040, PV systems would have to be installed on 150 football pitches in open space plus 1,000 residential buildings in Bavaria, two large wind turbines would have to be put into operation, 2,300 fossil-based heating systems would have to be replaced by regenerative systems and 1,250 residential buildings would have to be renovated in terms of energy.

Weekly.

What that will mean in Dorfen is exciting for Steiner in his function as head of the municipal utility.

The company has already started the preparatory work for an “energy master plan” “As soon as Corona allows it, we are planning an event in the Jakobmayer Hall,” announces Steiner.

One thing is important to him.

"The energy transition is being made in the countryside because the area is here." In large cities, it will hardly be possible to generate electricity - already now.

“Today, Teslas in Munich Schwabing are being refueled with Dorfen electricity.” The challenges are enormous.

“Bavaria is a flat state.

That means that we have to transform a large part of the agricultural area,” the energy manager is convinced.

At the same time, a huge network expansion is necessary.

"That will not work with today's bureaucracy and today's building law."

The next problem: "Where do the craftsmen come from?" Steiner sees the answer in the transformation of the labor market.

Because, for example, in the automotive industry, fewer workers will probably be needed in the future.

Steiner makes it clear: "If we say that we want the energy transition, then we cannot protect people from changes." But apart from land, Germany also has one more - the most important - resource: technical know-how.

"We have to show that we can do it as Europe's largest economy." Then the energy transition will also become an economic success story.