Innovative pilot project in Bavaria
Consumer market operates its own direct current network with MR technology
In future, the energy for the Buchbauer Group's new consumer market in Hunding, Bavaria, will come from the roof, while heat will be supplied by the company's own geothermal system. As a special service, customers will be able to charge their electric cars while shopping, also fed from the photovoltaic system.
Josef Georg Buchbauer, Managing Director of Buchbauer Handelsmärkte, was convinced at the opening with Christian Bernreiter, Bavarian Minister of State for Housing, Construction and Transport: "It is possible to think about the energy/emobility- and heat transition together and solve it across sectors. We take climate and resource protection seriously and act in partnership with manufacturers and regional grid operators like Bayernwerk."
The innovative DC technology is contributed by Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen (MR), or more precisely its Power Quality Converters business unit. It enables low-loss charging of electric vehicles by directly coupling photovoltaics and energy storage systems and at the same time relieves the upstream power grid. Holger Kretzschmar (Head of Sales Power Quality Converters) is convinced: "Local DC grids will develop into important enablers for the energy and transport transition. We offer DC solutions not only for retail properties, but also for industrial companies, logistics depots, freight forwarders and bus depots in public transport. Our modular components allow DC grids to be flexibly expanded at any time, while at the same time providing a high level of planning security for public grid operators."
More and more energy is being generated in low-voltage local grids as direct current from photovoltaics and consumed as direct current, e.g. for fast charging of electric vehicles. However, especially in rural areas, the public AC grid is not at all capable of absorbing or delivering increasing amounts of energy without costly grid expansion. In this case, local energy storage systems operated with direct current offer a solution. If generators, storage units and consumers are no longer connected conventionally to the public AC grid, but directly via a local DC grid, unnecessary conversion losses are avoided and the grid connection can be significantly smaller. This is because the connection to the public AC grid then only requires enough power to transmit excess or missing energy and, on top of that, can even be controlled to serve the grid.
The management of Buchbauer Handelsmärkte is already convinced of the benefits. The next new opening will also be equipped with DC technology from MR.
Image: Locally generated direct current for charging electric cars: Holger Kretzschmar (center) presents MR's innovative solution to Bavarian Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (right) and market operator Josef Georg Buchbauer.
