Energy Data Acquisition: The Right Solution for Every Step

Successful Electrification and Networking at WAGO

One of the great challenges that companies face lies in switching their office and production environments over to sustainable, networked, electrified solutions. WAGO’s success provides a clear example of how specific measures can help a company successfully orient itself towards sustainability while also supporting its industrial customers on with the right product portfolio and know-how as they work towards the same goal.

Power generation from renewable sources is becoming more important. In addition to wind energy, solar is the most important option for generating power from renewable sources. To store the renewably-generated electricity, energy storage systems are needed, like the sonnenBatterie 10 from sonnen. The company from the Allgäu values fast and simple connections to their storage batteries. Therefore, sonnen relies on WAGO’s PCB connectors with levers.

“By using a sonnenBatterie, our customers can store electricity generated by their photovoltaic systems for their own use, and then use the power when they need it. They can be virtually independent from conventional power companies by becoming autonomous energy producers,” Justus Wadepohl, Communications Manager at sonnen, summarizes the goals for the intelligent energy storage system. The energy manager provides the sonnenBatterie 10 with its intelligence and is, according to the manufacturer, optimized for energy consumption and adapts the storage behavior to weather predictions. The sonnenBatterie is compatible with any photovoltaic system: from private residence use through small or medium-sized arrays up to large, agricultural-based operations.

The energy transition has brought both challenges and also new opportunities. For example, if a wood-fired system also provides process heat, then lucrative subsidy programs can be utilized. The energy data management system which is, among other things, necessary for to apply for subsidies, can be easily realized, as Endress Holzfeuerungsanlagen GmbH has proven.

Garden centers and wood-processing companies, like carpenters, furniture factories or lumber mills, are often presented with the question of how to usefully use their waste wood. Directly generating heat from it can be an efficient and environmentally friendly practice. Endress Holzfeuerungsanlagen in Burgbernheim in Middle Franconia offers suitable technologies for this. Their 25 employees plan and manufacture complete combustion systems that have outputs from 100 to 1000 kilowatts (kW).

“Our wood-fired systems offer an optimal solution anywhere that fuel is produced as a by-product of production,” states Jürgen Ströbel, Control Cabinet Construction Manager at Endress. The companies actually see a doubled profit, “Carpenters, for example, have to pay to dispose of their wood chips. With our wood-fired systems, they save these costs, and simultaneously generate the heat they need in their operations.” Emissions are also far below legally specified limit values. This is achieved using intelligent temperature monitoring, lambda-controlled combustion controllers and newly developed particulate filters in the Endress combustion systems.