EWE boss Werner Brinker underscores significance of decentralized energy management

Oldenburg, April 28, 2006. “More and more electricity is being generated on a decentralized basis. The reason for this is also the growing number of facilities that utilize energy sources such as wind and the sun.” The Chairman of the Board of Management of the EWE AG, Dr. Werner Brinker, drew attention to this at the nationwide Initiative Day for Renewable Energy held April 29.

Brinker went on to say that this development had led to energy supply becoming an increasingly important instrument to control the coordination of these facilities.

EWE was quick to recognize the need to balance energy requirement and energy production. This was why EWE had been developing for some years now a decentralized energy management system (DEMS) on the basis of its own IT and communications infrastructure in order to precisely optimize its energy procurement from a number of energy sources and to ensure safe operation of the electricity networks. To realize this, data was required on the current electricity requirement, capacity utilization of the electricity network and power stations as far as possible in real time. To tackle these problems EWE working in unison with Lower Saxony research institutes had set up the prototype of an IT platform in 2005. This marked a new phase in the DEMS project. Brinker explained that the further development of systems to integrate decentralized generators would be a development focus at EWE in the coming years.

“EWE has also always been very receptive to the idea of utilizing regenerative energy sources,” said the EWE boss. For example, the company had acquired ten wind energy facility prototypes back in 1989, among them the largest German wind farm at the time in Pilsum. The establishment of the EWE NaturWatt in 1998 is one of the first energy trading companies in Germany which sells electricity completely from renewable energy sources. EWE continues to pursue projects in the field of regenerative energy utilization to this day. These include, for instance, offshore wind energy utilization and the application of biomass for heat and electricity generation. A further expansion of this business is planned. In this connection EWE welcomed the “Day of Renewable Energy” which publicized the increasing significance of regenerative energies.