OREANDA-NEWS. December 10, 2015. Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy is likely to grant double-digit millions of development funding to the energy transformation project ‘Designetz’ which RWE plans to implement in collaboration with 46 partners from science, municipalities and industry. RWE is the lead partner of the consortium behind ‘Designetz’ (Design Network) which, technically speaking, will be the most extensive pilot project ever undertaken to integrate renewables into the energy system.

The project addresses key prerequisites for effective transformation of the energy industry – intelligent networking of many decentralised electricity producers and consumers everywhere from rural to urban and highly industrialised centres. ‘Designetz’ will be implemented in the three states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate and Saarland where more than a quarter of the German population lives.

“The intention of ‘Designetz’ is to translate the political vision of a transformed energy landscape into practical reality. The project thus underlines our aim of being the most trusted and high-performing partner for the transformation of the European energy system”. At the same time it makes the planned restructuring of the RWE Group even more worthwhile”, says Peter Terium, CEO of RWE AG, in describing the strategic significance of the project.

“This consortium with many different partners is an appropriate way to address the high demands of that transformation. Working with others – communities and industry – in a partnership of equals is also an integral part of our RWE corporate philosophy.”

Some of the consortium partners include municipal utilities as well as renowned research institutes and major technology companies. In particular, RWE will bring its DSO expertise in Germany to bear on the pilot project. Already well over 300,000 renewable energy units feed into 331,000 km of RWE distribution lines.

“The invitation of the Federal Ministry of Economics to submit a more detailed project proposal is recognition and motivation enough for us to forge ahead and successfully implement the Designetz project with our strategic partners”, says Arndt Neuhaus, CEO of RWE Deutschland AG, the company leading the project consortium.

As Dr Joachim Schneider, CTO of RWE Deutschland says: “A key element of the project is to incorporate innovative information and communications technology (ICT) within the energy industry”.

After all, what has been missing to date is a sound holistic concept for bringing all components together in a meaningful way. This is precisely the aim of the ‘Designetz’ project of RWE and its partners. It is the first to consider the challenges of energy transformation from a holistic point of view and may well serve as the blueprint for nationwide restructuring of the energy system.
With planned implementation in the three German states of NRW, Rhineland Palatinate and Saarland, ‘Designetz’ spans a large region with ideal conditions for giving the decentralised energy landscape of the future a good reality check. It includes rural areas with very high inputs from renewables such as wind and PV and major industrial consumer centres that will still need to be supplied with a reliable and economic source of electricity in the future.

The Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy is supporting a total of five pilot projects like ‘Designetz’ towards transformation of the German energy industry as part of its programme ‘Shopfront for intelligent energy – the digital agenda for Germany’s energy transition’ (German acronym: SINTEG). It is about integrating the many, decentralised generators of renewable energy and finding mass-market-capable solutions to overcome the technical, economic and regulatory challenges in large-scale model regions. In total, the ministry is devoting €230 million of development funding to this programme.