A lack of charging infrastructure, among other factors, is slowing the advance of e-mobility in Germany. Ingenieurbüro Fehringer (IBF), an engineering consulting firm from Dortmund, might be able to advance the expansion with an innovative solution. It has developed a solar EV charging station which can provide green energy around the clock, thanks to a combination of photovoltaics and batteries. WAGO technology manages the interfaces and ensures secure data communication.

How will the federal government’s goal of one million electric vehicles on the roads in Germany be achieved by 2020? Many experts have already labeled the proposal unrealistic; there is both a lack of affordable e-vehicles with acceptable driving ranges and also an insufficient number of charging stations for the e-vehicles currently on the road. To drive, for example, from Dortmund to Minden and back, an e-vehicle with a range of 200 kilometers would have to charge somewhere along the return trip. But where? Fear of insufficient range is scaring off potential buyers.

Low energy consumption was one of the main goals that Günther Heumann pursued when he was planning his new corporate headquarters. At the same time, he wanted to demonstrate modern building automation to his customers. A WAGO ETHERNET Controller and an app for the iPad form the basis of the building automation.

The new corporate headquarters for Elektro-Service Heumann GmbH offers CEO Günther Heumann and his ten employees 400 m² of office and storage space. During planning, special focus was placed on providing optimal comfort in the space while keeping energy costs low. For example, the south-facing facade is nearly all glass, allowing the sun to warm up the rooms during the colder seasons. Blinds ensure that the temperature does not climb too high in the summer. A wood-fired furnace with an output of 14.5 kW provides the building with warm-air heat if the solar radiation alone is not sufficient.

In cold weather, a cross-stream heat exchanger uses the exhaust air to warm the supply air so that very little energy is required for heating. COMFORT AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY Building Automation on the iPad It is also possible to cool the rooms using the supply air. To accomplish this, ground heat collectors were situated under the parking garage; these use a brine pipeline and a heat exchanger to cool the supply air.

The modular WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM and the WTG Protocol Converter enable easy management of the complex district heating system in Greifswald.

Greifswald relies on district heating. Almost 20,000 residents – about 70 % of the population – use it for heating and for hot water, which is an astonishing statistic in comparison to the national average of 14 %. The first thermal plant went online in 1958, and more have been added over time. Starting in 1983, one of the two nuclear plants in the GDR supplied the city with both waste heat and electricity. Up until 1990, a district heating line extended 24 kilometers between the Lubmin nuclear plant and Greifswald.

The end of the GDR sealed the fate of the nuclear reactor. Serious safety infractions were revealed, and conforming to FRG standards would have been prohibitively expensive. In 1990, the power plant was taken off line, and the aboveground supply line was dismantled four years later. From 1990 to 1993, an oil heating plant at the Lubmin location temporarily supplied Greifswald with district heat.

Following the shutdown of the nuclear plant, Greifswald maintained its district heating and established Fernwärme Greifswald GmbH in 1991 to supply it. This entity introduced a new energy concept: Downtown pipeline systems were renovated, and four new power plants were built in just five years. Three CHPs with internal combustion engine systems, and one thermal plant with a gas turbine engine and waste heat boiler, now supply thermal energy and electrical power. Electricity is generated exclusively by the high-efficiency CHPs located within the city limits.